Beyond Smallville: Death in the Heartland
by gardy77
Summary: This fan fic expands on the Smallville universe. I created Laura Lake as a character that could stand on her own, or fit in with the Smallville regulars. Death in the Heartland is her origin story. She'll interact with Clark and Chloe soon. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1: Death in the Heartland

Laura Lake of Falcon Claw Death in the Heartland

**Late Summer, 1995**:

_Falcon Claw_, Nebraska near Crater Lake and Comet Creek.

The sleepy farming town of Falcon Claw was preparing for harvest season. Situated halfway between Lincoln and Norfolk, Falcon Claw was doing quite well for itself. Most of the old timers dreaded the expansion west from Omaha, fearing that it would lead to suburban sprawl and the destruction of important farmland.

They still had some time, or so they thought. This season had been harsh as the weather waffled between intense heat and frequent powerful storms. A record number of tornadoes had ravaged the area all summer. Some harvests boomed, while others wilted on the vine or in the fields. Falcon Claw had been fairly lucky up to this point.

The Falcon Claw Festival was barely three weeks away. It was more than a simple county fair. It was imperative that all of the local farmers bring their merchandise to the town square. They'd set up booths and hawk their wares.

Tourists from across the Midwest drove for hours on end, sometimes a couple of days to appear at every county fair and festival in Nebraska. Roughly thirty percent of the farmer's sales came from their displays of food, livestock, or machinery, and arts and crafts. Many homemade specialties were sold as well.

Today, an old red pick up truck pulls up next to the Lake's General Store, near the center of what passed for downtown Falcon Claw. Steve and Muriel Lake had married seven years ago. They'd ventured here from the truly rural and unpopulated areas of western Nebraska, in the hope of getting their only daughter a quality education.

Five year old Laura played happily in the front garden of the general store. The gravelly road crackled beneath the pick up's well worn tires, as it came to a stop. James and Marion Trent climbed out. They needed some more items to complete their latest harvest, and feed the remaining unsold livestock.

The Trents had been recently married, but unfortunately, Marion was unable to bear children. She'd taken the news from the doctor hard. James had already begun considering adoption, many beautiful children were homeless, parentless, or displaced from dysfunctional families.

James and Marion greeted their friends, the Lakes. Marion loved little Laura, and Muriel Lake didn't mind sharing their precocious daughter's attention with them, especially given how busy the Lakes had been this year.

"Hey Steve, how're things going?" James asked cordially. "Pretty good, Jim." Steve shook his hand heartily. "Since the end of spring, we've been going full tilt." Marion nodded. "That _is _good news, Steve." Muriel got up from her shelf stocking to join the others on the old wrap around porch, which encircled the general store.

Muriel and Marion hugged. "How's things back at the farm?" She asked as Marion shrugged. "We've been pulling our own." Jim agreed. "We hit a rough patch back in July, but the late August rains have helped. Can you believe that it's almost September?" Steve shook his head. "What can I get for you folks, today?"

Marion handed Muriel a list of smaller items that they were interested in, as Jim put on his canvas gloves. "I'll need to get nearly a pallet of feed, the animals are eating like there's no tomorrow. You might as well throw in a few bags of fertilizer."

"You got it, Jim." Steve grabbed the keys to the storage area beside their building. "The fertilizer just came in this week, that's about as fresh as it gets in these parts." Jim nodded. "That sounds like a plan."

Laura had bounded up the steps when she'd seen the pick up and recognized the Trents. The little girl had her raven black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. " !" The excited girl said, remembering to be polite. Marion hugged Laura.

"My gosh Laura, you're getting _so_ big!" She commented. Muriel smiled proudly as she headed back into the store. "Yeah! And i'm working now, too!" Laura boasted. "Really?" Marion was impressed.

Laura took the twenty something by the hand. "Sure, i'm in charge of the garden at the back of the yard." The little girl was quite pleased with herself. "C'mon, i'll show you." She urged.

Muriel called out the open window. "Now Laura, Mr. and Mrs. Trent are very busy." Marion looked up at the storeowner's wife. "Nonsense! I always have time for the little angel!" She said. "Angel, Eh?" Steve chuckled. "Okay, but don't be long. The weather's about to turn for the worse." He warned.

"We won't." Laura promised. She guided Marion through the white pickett fence gate, and out into the vast yard. "I have to water, and fer...fertilize..." The child struggled with the unfamiliar word. "Take care of all the flowers and vegetables for Mama and Poppa."

Sure enough, flowers as tall as the fence and good-sized tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers decorated the entire rear third of the property. "Very good, Laura." Marion praised as the first rolls of thunder echoed in the distance. Laura smiled appreciatively.

Her father and Jim were at the feed and fertilizer display just to the side rear of the store's entrance. "We'll need 17 bags of feed and at least three of fertilizer, Steve. I'll go and get the truck." James said as he left. Steve grabbed a manually operated lift truck.

It clattered across the pebbled driveway. After James was out of sight, two grizzled young men silently approached the store, after parking their dark sedan in a nearby alley. One, who had a three inch scar across his cheek, motioned towards the display.

They split up, and the taller of the two followed the wall nearest to Steve, who had been left alone, out of the view of the store windows. He spotted the potential customer heading for him.

"How can i help you?" Steve asked innocently. Without a word, the younger man pulled a small caliber revolver, equipped with a silencer, from his thigh high black trenchcoat pocket. The assailant fired two shots at Steve, who never had a chance.

The first shot pierced the pleasant storeowner's chest near his heart, the second impacted his head, killing him instantly. He fell to the dusty ground and lay in a pool of blood. The murderer turned without a thought, to retrieve the getaway car.

James was already backing the pick up truck toward the display, when he noticed something reddish on the white and gray rocky path. A fierce wind rippled through the town, heralding the approaching storm. The chimes above the store door tinkled.

Meanwhile, the second man was already inside. He spotted Muriel Lake getting a bag of groceries ready. Like a wraith, he silently closed in on her. "Hello sir, may i help...?"

The unfortunate woman never finished her question. Two basically silent shots tore through the dank air, killing her in the same manner as her husband.

The gloved shooter went over to the cash register and popped it open, using a nearby crobar, which had been hung on a display. He quickly filled his pockets with money, and then bent down behind the counter, raiding an unlocked safe.

Noiselessly, he turned on his heel and walked right out the front door. The murderer's accomplice pulled up to the opposite side of the wrap around porch in the getaway car.

The robber carried three canvas bags as he got into the car, and peeled out, heading for the main highway. This all took less than five minutes. Later, it was determined that the thieves were likely hitmen, or gangbangers looking for a fast buck.

The skies continued to darken, lightning crackled, and the swirling winds created dust devils as the storm drew near. Marion and Laura were way at the end of the property. The elder woman became suspicious as she glanced back at the store.

She hadn't seen Muriel puttering around the store in the last few minutes. When the rolling thunder distracted her, Marion looked to the skies, which had become a sickly green.

The pitch black clouds roiled, separating from the miles tall wall cloud at the rear edge of the thunderstorm. Marion had grown up in tornado country, and knew the signs all too well.

She hurriedly grabbed the child by the hand, guiding her towards the store. Opposite them was the storm cellar, near the feed display. "Laurie, we need to go in. It's about to storm."

James came rushing into the yard. He placed himself between Laura, his wife, and the shop. Marion noted that Jim's complexion had turned a ghastly white. By now, he'd thoroughly checked to see if Steve and Muriel were alive, to no avail.

The attackers spent a moment trashing the phone lines, the storm had done the rest. No one had cell phones yet. "Uh...honey... maybe we should take Laura with us for a while." Jim said nervously. Marion gulped. _Something had gone terribly wrong_.

Jim's ashen face reflected the greenish hue of the turbulent skies. "Okay, dear." She managed to put on a stoic face. James hurried them along, glancing in the general direction of the store. For all he knew, the killer or killers, were lying in wait for them.

The storm rumbled closer, and as if on cue, a grayish black funnel lowered from the spinning black hook cloud. They'd run out of time as the storm dictated their next action. James grabbed Laura's hand and virtually yanked the child off the ground.

Jim chanced that the gunmen were gone as they scurried toward the family pick up, forgetting about their supplies. The assailants could have easily picked them off.

They sprinted up the gravelly drive. "Let's go sweetie, the weather's turning bad." Marion urged the frightened girl. "Who will tell Mommy and Daddy?" Laura asked worriedly. She was far too smart for her own good. James dragged them out the pickett gate.

"Honey, Mama and Daddy had to go away for a while." Jim, choked out. Marion knew what that meant. She held back the tears and put on a brave face for the little girl.

"You can come and stay with us." James offered. "After the storm, we can have some cookies and pop at our house." Marion added. "Now, let's go!" James reached the pick up first, and lifted Laura into the passenger seat. Marion piled in after her, as they sped off.

The storm came in much sooner than they expected. Rain fell in sheets and flew sideways, along with some good-sized hail. As if things weren't bad enough, the thunderstorm produced a full fledged twister.

The pale green and yellow skies provided the backdrop, framing the black tornado, as it snaked its way through central Nebraska. It flattened farms, uprooted trees, and tossed farm equipment around like they were children's toys.

The Trents and Laura clipped along the highway, staying parallel to the tornado. Marion could barely contain her emotions. Something awful had happened to their friends, and they probably couldn't have prevented the tragedy.

There was nothing they could do now except take care of Laura. A telephone pole snapped in half, falling on the road ahead of them. James skidded off the highway and onto the shoulder. He'd barely avoided hitting a quarter of a grain silo roof.

Laura pointed off to the left. "Why is that boy out there all alone?" James followed her gaze, and sure enough a boy about Laura's age sat alongside the ditch apparently unaware of the impending danger. There were no vehicles nearby, and the Trents didn't have time for a thorough search.

The twister snaked towards the highway. _What on Earth was he doing here_? Marion wondered silently. James had stopped the truck just past the boy. He hurriedly got out and glanced around. There was precious little time to debate a course of action. James made a snap decision.

He slowly approached the boy as the tornado roared in the distance, churning up the formerly pristine farmland. James didn't want to scare the child away. In the dense wind whipped wheat stalks, he'd never find him again. "Hey buddy!" Jim said, raising his voice above the din.

"Do you know where your parents are?" He asked, bending down near the boy. The child stared at him blankly. Maybe the boy was in shock, disabled, or didn't speak the language, Jim mused. He examined the child closely, he appeared to be uninjured.

His clothes were sopping wet, and he was covered from head to toe in what looked like a grainy, yellow, soot. Jim was out of time, a second twister was beginning to form behind the first. He reached down and picked the child up. Fortunately, the boy didn't squirm or resist.

The child pointed away from them. "Tractor." He muttered. James turned his head, watching a green and yellow farm tractor spiraling towards them. The tornado had gotten too close. "Oh no!" Jim yelled as the machine flipped end over end aiming right for the family vehicle.

"Move the truck!" James yelled as he spun away from the out of control tractor. "Truck!" The boy mimicked. Marion wasn't fast enough to get her and Laura out of the way. By sheer luck, the vehicle careened once beyond them, merely glancing off the pick up truck bed.

Still, the impact was enough to knock their truck forwards into the ditch. Laura screamed as Marion desperately tried to hit reverse. The front tires spun in the muck. The tractor had finally come to rest against a boulder at the edge of a property. It began to leak gasoline.

The second twister had reached the ground, and it tore across the highway behind them, bearing straight for downtown Falcon Claw. James ran to the pick up, boy in his arms, and popped open the passenger door. Marion stayed behind the steering wheel, gunning its powerful engine.

They only had moments before the fallen tractor would explode. The pick up was still too close to it. Mr. Trent pushed the front of the truck backwards, rocking it in place. Finally, the rear wheels caught, and with a lurch, Marion had sent the truck back onto the highway, skidding to a stop.

Miraculously, Jim clambered back into the cab, slamming the door as Marion slid over to the passenger's side, buckling Laura and the boy in. The yellow slime dripped off the boy onto Laura, and she fidgeted. James fish-tailed the truck as the tractor burst into an inferno.

They sped towards the Trent Farm, reaching it in short order, and immediately took the kids down into the storm cellar. The twisters had missed their buildings entirely, but Falcon Claw wasn't so lucky. The second tornado annihilated the Lake's General Store, thereby destroying all evidence of the crimes.

The heinous murders remain unsolved to this day, with no hard evidence, no witnesses, and no clue as to who the perpetrators were. James and Marion took in Laura until a relative could be found. They tried in vain to locate the boy's parents. No one claimed him, and there were no records of that specific child in the area. Even the country's database couldn't find his parents.

DNA tests were done, but no match was ever found. Some scientists were puzzled at the DNA map of the child. There seemed to have been a number of anomalies in his system, yet no one followed up on his case. After a lengthy arduous process, the Trents adopted the lost boy.

They named him Michael Angelo Trent, after Marion's maiden name, Michols. Little Laura had a relative named Wanda Jenkins, her aunt, who lived in Metropolis, Kansas. Wanda was the youngest sibling of Laura's mother, Muriel. At the age of twenty three, Wanda bravely decided to raise Laura.

She sacrificed her hardware business, to move to Falcon Claw and start anew. Wanda raised Laura as best she could, frequently turning to the Trents for help and advice. The orphaned children grew to be good friends.

Next Chapter: Laura Lake of Falcon Claw


	2. Chapter 2: Metahuman

_Laura Lake of Falcon Claw_ Metahuman

**Six Years Later:** The children had been warned to stay away from Comet Creek, and Crater Lake. Naturally, that was the first place they chose to explore. Young Michael Trent and Laura Lake rode their ten-speeds along the main highway leading toward the undeveloped woodland area. Comet Creek flowed in a zigzag fashion down into Crater Lake. The area had been so named because legend held that the ancient Native American tribe, the Tekamah, believed that a spirit was cast down from the skies, after rebelling against the gods.

Scientists were able to prove that a piece of a comet did impact the area ten thousand years ago. Many Tekameh elders passed the story down by word of mouth, generation to generation. They believed that many Tekameh braves had gone to see where the outcast spirit had landed, as a test of their manhood, or worthiness to lead the tribe. Some never returned, others had, bearing bizarre stories of evil spirits. One was that the animals refused to populate the land near the crater.

Another tale was told that braves had simply gone mad, or become possessed by evil spirits. Yet another warrior spoke of waters that had burned gold. Eventually, the Tekameh braves had written the evil spirit story on some cave walls, where the alleged golden water spouted from. The creek was thought of as bad medicine, or poisoned. For eons, the Tekameh refused to drink water from the creek, believing it to be cursed.

They would travel miles away to get food and water from other 'cleansed' sources. The Tekameh had been removed and relocated from their ancestral home in the 1800's. No one knew if any pure blood Tekameh still existed. Today, Michael and Laura splashed around near the creek's edge, watching the current run swiftly into the lake. Parts of the creek were shallow, allowing anyone to easily cross over to the other side. Laura picked up a handful of the yellowish substance below the creek's surface that had mixed with the sandy sea floor. She rubbed it and examined it closely, allowing the sun's rays to reflect off of it.

It seemed to sparkle, drawing her to it. A more educated observer would say the mineral resembled simple phosphorus, or a form of sulphur. No one to their knowledge had ever tested the minerals, some of which clumped together to form rocks. To a curious 11-year old, they might as well have been gold nuggets. "Mikey, look at these cool rocks!" Laura excitedly showed them to her best friend. "Its like they glow or something." Mike was unimpressed.

"Cool." He said absently as he scoured the creek for fish, finding none. Laura would not be swayed. "I think that they're magic rocks." She boasted. "Yer butt!" Mike scoffed. "They're just rocks." Laura snorted. "Are not!" Mike ignored her as he moved a bit further along the creek towards the deeper waters. Laura grew bored and disgusted as she crossed the creek and wandered up a small incline. She continued to rub the rocks between her fingers, and some of the yellow mineral left residue.

She smelled it, and it had absolutely no aroma at all. The precocious child climbed up a slimy embankment and spied a cave entrance, partially hidden behind some overgrown foliage and boulders. "Awesome!" Laura yelled at her friend, a good distance below her. "Mike! Check this out! A cave!" Now _that_ got his attention. "No way!" He called back. "I'll be right there." Laura had already grown impatient, and climbed down into the dimly lit cave. She could see several feet into the darkness, but it quickly blackened. Laura carefully skirted to the right side of the cavern and hugged the walls, because the cave's center seemed to dip into a 'V' rock formation.

Laura wasn't careful enough. She lost her footing, and fell clumsily into the cave's center. She landed face first in a shallow pool of the yellow minerals. "Owwww!" She yelped, as she felt something rip into her leg. A sharp rocky outcropping had torn a gash in her leg just above the ankle and behind the shin. Tears formed in Laura's eyes as the stinging injury began to ooze blood. "Mikey! Mikey!" Laura yelled. "I'm in the cave and i'm hurt!"

She tried to crawl forward but slipped into a congealing pool of the yellowish liquid. The pool at the bottom of the cave floor was barely six inches deep, yet it was enough to cover Laura's legs and her skinned elbow as she rolled over in it. Laura coughed repeatedly as she attempted to stand up. The tough eleven year old was able to get to her knees before the dimly lit cave seemed to spin around her. Immediately, she fell backwards at the edge of the pool and into the yellowed mineral water. Everything went black.

When Mike finally found her, Laura lay motionless, her body sprawled alongside the cave wall. "Laurie!" He dashed toward her prone form. "Laurie! Are you okay?" The horrified boy yelled. He dragged her up upon more solid ground. Laura was drenched in the odorless, slimy liquid. Mike helped his friend to sit up as Laura's big blue eyes fluttered open. The pupils appeared to be surrounded by sharp bright golden yellow rings. "Laurie?" Mike gasped. "My leg!" Laura croaked, "It burns!"

She instinctively rubbed it, and her hand was covered with a reddish orange filmy residue. "I must've passed out!" She said worriedly. "How bad is it?" "You got a nasty slash and some blackened bruises." Mike replied. "Can you walk?" His hands had been soaked in the yellow mineral water as well. "I think so." Laura responded bravely. He helped her to her feet. Mike glanced down at the cut and stared briefly for a moment. "No broken bones." He muttered. The gashed area began to puff up. "We better get you home before it gets infected." Laura took one wary step and collapsed. She fell right into Mike's arms.

"I can't Mikey! You'll have to carry me!" MIke blushed. "Carry you? All the way back home? What about the bikes?" Laura tried to ignore the pain lancing through her frame. It seemed to be subsiding a bit to her. "We can have your parents come by and pick them up." She replied. "Okay, but you're a cow!" He teased. "Am not!" She snapped. "Are too!" He joked, happy that his friend was doing better. Mike effortlessly picked her up and carefully carried her through the cave entrance.

He then set Laura down on a flat clean boulder above the creek. Before they left the area, Mike hid the bikes behind some bushes near the cave. To his surprise, Laura felt really light, as Mike dashed through the heavily wooded area toward the Trent Farm. To him it was no trouble at all carrying Laura the three to four miles back to their property. Laura felt dizzy, but overall, much better as they zipped past the horse corral and onto the Trent's front porch.

Mike placed her on the porch swing and felt as if he hadn't really broken a sweat. Laura's head hurt much more than her leg. "Mike, check my cut. I'm afraid to look." Laura whined. He reluctantly complied. "Whoa!" He exclaimed. "What? What's wrong?" Laura nearly cried. "It...looks...fine to me." He couldn't hide the amazement in his voice. "I'm serious Laurie...the cut is almost healed." She risked a glance at it to verify his observation.

The gash had closed, stopped bleeding, and had left a small yellowish brown scar in its place. "It doesn't hurt anymore either." Laura exclaimed with relief. "Boy, were you lucky." Mike shook his head. "You're gonna still get in trouble for gettin' hurt." He added playfully. "Not if no one knows." Laura's eyes sparkled...literally. "_Will you keep my secret_?" She pressed her hand with his. "Yeah." Mike replied warily. "Your Aunt Wanda is still gonna see the scar." He reminded her.

Laura gasped as she checked out the leg again. "What scar?" Mike's eyes widened. "Wow! That is awesome! The scar's gone, too!" Laura still had a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Aunt Wanda is coming by to pick me up in a couple of hours. Do you think we can have your dad pick up the bikes before then?" "Sure, if he's not too busy." Mike responded. With that, Laura reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Mikey!" She smiled appreciatively.

"Whoa!" Mike wiped the kiss off of his face. "Yuk!" Laura playfully hit him in the shoulder. That night Laura slept uneasily as bizarre, inexplicable nightmares made her toss and turn all night. The children didn't see much of each other over the next few years. They traveled in different social circles. Laura tended to hang out with the 'undesirables', or misfit people. Mike grew more and more popular among the jocks, motor heads, and laborers.

Most of his friends were sons and daughters of electricians, machinists, and construction workers. Mike figured that he'd have to learn all the trades to help his parents run the farm. Laura had become more of a lone wolf among her classmates. She'd spent a good amount of her time reading articles on the Internet, and tended to socialize with the nerds, Geeks, and Goth kids. Though Mike and Laura both attended Falcon Claw Middle School together, they rarely ever spoke to one another. Laura noticed some subtle changes as she grew older. She found that she could run faster, jump higher, and swim longer than the other kids.

Laura rarely became ill, and her decidedly average school grades improved every year, until she finally managed to join the Honor Roll, making her Aunt Wanda proud. The young stepmother did her best to raise Laura into a mid teenaged young lady. The independent minded Laura proved to be quite a challenge to her conservative aunt. One day, just short of her sixteenth birthday, something dramatic happened to Laura. She'd been unusually happy, after acing a test, and coming in first in a track meet. Laura started jogging, just like always, and suddenly discovered an amazingly fast burst of speed.

She had inadvertently passed her Aunt Wanda's townhouse. Laura was soon running so fast consistently that she opted to leave her bike at home, and stopped taking the bus to school. She felt a bid weird, but quickly got used to her new ability. Laura was zipping home on a particularly nasty rainy day, when her visual perception shifted. The raindrops surrounding her seemed to hang in midair, they resembled transparent circles. A sparrow appeared to have stopped flapping its wings, and debris caught in a silent wind floated steadily before her. Laura was about to scream, when she slowed to a stop.

The world around her returned to normal. The adolescent girl gazed at a mile indicator sign on a deserted highway. It read: _Falcon Claw, 17 miles_. "What?!" Near panic, Laura forced herself to calm down and assess the situation logically. _Don't freak out! Don't freak out_! She encouraged herself to reverse her route, traveling much more slowly. Laura started jogging along the highway, incrementally increasing her speed until she began passing trucks and cars at quite a clip.

Fortunately, she only encountered a few vehicles. In moments, she was sliding to a stop on the porch of Aunt Wanda's townhouse. Laura was simultaneously thrilled and scared. _Now that was not normal! Do I dare tell Aunt Wanda, or_ _keep this a secret_? She struggled with the idea for a few minutes. Laura decided to conceal her unusual abilities for now. Once she'd gotten used to it, she came to depend on her hyper speed, though the visual perception shift still frightened her.

She completed all of her chores with amazing speed. Laura was never late for classes, important appointments, and did all this without growing tired. Other powers soon followed her hyper speed and she cautiously adapted to them. She was painting the roof on her Aunt Wanda's General Store, and clumsily fell off the two-story ladder. Laura landed in a heap, three stories below on a solid granite walkway without any injury or even a scrape or bruise. No one witnessed the miracle and Laura's confidence in her abilities grew exponentially.

**Six Years After the Cave Incident**: Every time she used an ability, or a new one manifested itself, Laura took more and more chances. Now seventeen, Laura had grown into a beautiful young lady, though socialization seemed to elude her. Along with more typical adolescent problems came the tendency of Laura to accidentally get involved in other people's business. She involuntarily found herself mixed up in any number of strange occurrences within the farming community.

There were reports of local illnesses. Laura seemed to sense an undercurrent of something not entirely normal about the immediate area surrounding Falcon Claw. A few of the town leaders began to request environmental studies of the water, soil, and air nearest to the former Arax Chemical Plant, which was now owned by Randolph Rowland, one of the wealthiest men in America. The studies hadn't produced anything conclusive, yet Laura wasn't convinced.

Enter Tim Servo, a self-proclaimed geek, computer whiz, and borderline genius. A classmate of hers, Laura immediately befriended the misfit. He in turn, harbored a severe schoolboy crush on her. The free-spirited Laura had decided to use her special abilities to investigate the area on her own. Six full years after the exposure to the yellow mineral, she'd been able to conceal her powers...barely. One boring evening, Laura decided to test some of her new qualities.

_What would be a good challenge, that if I fail, I won't be killed, injured, or caught_? Laura considered all the options. _I need to tell someone...to trust somebody_! She sighed and could only think of one option. _I'll demonstrate my bizarre behavior to Tim_. She was now seventeen and could make her own important decisions. _Maybe he can figure me out...it's not as if anyone really listens to Tim when he talks_, she observed sourly. _He only had two friends...me and Shana Springbrook._ Laura punched up his home number on her new cell phone. Though Laura had passed her driver's test, Aunt Wanda still made her beg to use the car, which got old really quick.

"Hi Tim, whatcha doin'?_." _Tim, to say the least, was shocked to hear from the object of his affection_._ "Is this _thee_ Laura Lake, Lab Partner extra ordinaire?" Tim joked after he'd gotten over his initial surprise. "Hey Tim, I wonder...can I come over?" Laura asked far too sweetly. Tim stared blankly at the phone. "Hello? Earth to Tim..." Laura prodded. "Uh...yeah...sure." He replied calmly, though beneath the surface, Tim could feel his heart beating faster.

Regaining his composure, Tim resorted to sarcasm. "To what do I owe this distinct pleasure? Did you fail your Trig Exam? Or blow your Lab Report?" Laura snorted in an unladylike manner. "Nope, I aced them both. Tim, I wonder if you could time me as I jog over?" Puzzled, Tim agreed. "You're going to jog the four miles without stopping?" He was very skeptical. "Are you entering a charity marathon?" Laura swallowed and steadied her nerves. "No, I'm just curious as to how fast I can run."

Tim shrugged. "Very well, I can extrapolate your average speed by multiplying..." Laura cut him off as her eyebrows rose. "Now Tim, you should know better than to use multi-syllable words like 'extrapolate' around me. It makes my head hurt." She quipped. Tim folded his arms. "Let me put it another way. It's six-fifteen now. If you leave right away, you ought to get here around seven o'clock." He challenged. "Okay, I'm on my Aunt Wanda's driveway."

Laura glanced in every direction, making sure that her unconventional escape would go unnoticed. "I'll use the timer on my laptop. That should suffice." Tim offered. "One, two, three..." Laura counted. "When I snap off my phone, start the timer." "Gotcha!" Tim readied the laptop. "And Go!" Laura clicked the phone shut. Tim started the timer. Laura zipped into hyper speed, this time expecting her visual perception shift. It came. The whole world surrounding her slowed to a near stop.

Above her, a crow seemed to hang in mid-air. Water droplets from the humidity in the air halted before she blew through them. Cars appeared to crawl as she passed them along the highway. Just that quick, Laura recognized Tim's parents neat red brick bungalow, near the semi-busy downtown area of Falcon Claw. Laura shuddered to a stop, scattering debris and causing a huge vortex of dust to form around her. It dissipated rapidly. To the average passerby, she seemed to solidify out of nowhere. Laura waltzed onto the porch and rang Tim's doorbell. He opened it and gawked, snapping the laptop timer off.

"Holy crap!" He exclaimed as Laura patiently awaited her invite. "That's incredible! No human can run that fast." It was now six-eighteen. She hadn't even broken a sweat. Tim escorted her in, purposely keeping his distance from her. He closed the door and gaped. "How?" "I don't know." Laura whined. "I just can. I've been able to run at high speed for a few years now. I'm a freak!" Tim rubbed his thin chin. "There has to be some logical explanation..."

Reality was starting to set in. Laura felt like crying, but resisted the urge. Tim had already begun to analyze her. "No one will ever talk to me again if I reveal myself to anyone else." Laura folded her arms across her ample chest, and began to pace the length of the Servo's family room. "Promise me you'll keep this a secret, Tim...I trust you." He nodded absently, and decided to tease her. "Relax, _Wonder Woman_, no one really likes you anyway." He sparred.

Laura's eyes briefly flared yellow. "Said the number one geek at Falcon Claw High." She returned the barb. Tim smiled. "You are correct, my mutant friend." He continued to ride her. "I'm number one for a reason." Tim said proudly. "Mutant? Is that what I am?" Laura didn't care for that particular label. "Quite possibly." He replied. "We see mutations in cells all the time, birth defects, blonde hair instead of black, blue eyes instead of green, etcetera. You get my point."

Laura was beginning to calm down a bit. "What am I supposed to do now?" She inquired. Tim couldn't resist, as he motioned for Laura to sit on the black leather couch. "You can join the circus, win the Olympics, get your name in the _Guiness_ _Book of World Records_, or even get a job with the Post Office." He continued to taunt her. "Thanks a lot, Tim." Laura said with mock anger. "Should I tell Aunt Wanda? Go to the doctor? I mean how do I get rid of them?"

She was becoming panicky again. "Them?" Tim's eyes widened. Laura had let it slip that she had developed more unusual abilities. She sighed with disdain. "I wasn't sure how much to..." She choked on the words. "I can also leap for amazing distances, and I'm very strong...supernaturally strong, and I can see through solid things if I concentrate." Laura admitted. That was all the abilities she could remember having. "Whoa! Multiple mutations!" "Uh...Tim...can we not use the "M" word so much?" Laura asked half-seriously. "Anyway, Laura, this could be your chance to become popular." Tim added.

"There is an upside, you know. You can become fabulously wealthy." Laura shrugged. "I don't really care about money." "Good girl!" Tim applauded. "That's your first step to becoming a super hero." Laura snickered. "And I suppose you'll want rights to the comic books, TV shows, action figures, and blockbuster movies?" Tim nodded. "Of course." She was all seriousness again. "Now what do I do?" She held a breath. "I know what you can't do." Tim said.

Tim stood up and began to pace the room with his hands behind his back. "You can't go to the doctor, because they'll just turn you into a lab rat. You can't let it get out until you're at least eighteen, because the government would take you away from Aunt Wanda and try and turn you into some kind of nefarious super weapon, either for their own devices, or for sale to the highest bidder. Didn't you see _Terminator_ or _Bionic Woman_?" Laura sneered.

"I must have missed those while I was trying to get a life!" She teased. "Mock me now, missy, but one day the truth will out, and you'd best be prepared for it." He warned. "They might consider you a babe of mass destruction." "I don't want to be a lab rat, be popular, or become the female _Terminator_! I just wanna be me." Laura whined. "Let's see your head." Tim sighed and climbed atop the living room coffee table, because Laura was a few inches taller than he.

"When did you discover these bizarre abilities?" Tim grilled, as Laura had completely captivated his attention. "It wasn't something that happened overnight. In Middle School I won a Meet because I could swim so fast." She replied. "I also took first place at a Track Meet freshman year." Laura continued. "Just recently, I discovered the other abilities." Tim went back to pacing. "Have you ever been sick? You know, colds, flus, and the like?" Laura shook her head and her long black hair flipped over another shoulder. "I can't recall the last time I missed school or anything for being ill." Tim stopped.

"I know a little about medicine and genetics based on all of the books i've read, and perused on line, though I'm hardly qualified to make any medical assessments. If you don't have any headaches, nausea, dizziness, or have grown a third leg or third eye in the middle of your forehead, you should be alright." Tim concluded. "At the first sign of any odd symptoms, you get your ass to a hospital, okay?" Laura nodded and kissed Tim on the cheek. She enjoyed watching him redden.

"Thanks buddy, I'm calmed down now!" She smiled warmly. "For all we know, your super _Wheaties_ abilities will just wear off one day." "I hope so." Laura sighed. Tim sat contemplatively. "Are you sure that nothing unusual ever happened to you when you were young?" Laura strained to separate her confused memories. "There was this one time that I was injured, and my body repaired itself." Tim's eyes widened. "Bingo!" Laura related her story about the incident at the Tekamah Caves.

She'd almost completely forgotten about it. Tim committed the story to memory. He would write it up later on his laptop. Laura didn't know at this point that the self described geek had been following illogical, unscientific stories as well as common facts. "I'll have to give it some thought, but I think that you're onto something." Tim commented at the conclusion of Laura's story. "Such as?" She prodded the boy genius. "This occurence is not without precedent." Tim added vaguely.

Laura patiently awaited further explanation. "There have been reports in the media about people with unique or unusual abilities cropping up all over the scientific community." Tim watched as Laura's face brightened and her hair lightened. "Most experts dismiss these claims, but I believe the Shadow Government is behind either the mutations themselves, or covering it up, similar to the Air Force Project Blue Book conspiracy."

He stared as Laura developed yellow circles around her normally green hued eyes. His distraction did not go unnoticed. "Are we talking UFO's, Black Helicopters, and Area 51 here?" Laura scoffed. Tim had expected her sarcasm. "Yes, that's exactly what i'm talking about. The possible next evolution in humanity...meta-humans." "Meta-humans?" Laura repeated. "Well, that sounds better than mutant." Tim nodded. "Human, but enhanced in some ways." He defined the term.

"Yet, your story about the Tekamah Caves would appear to fly in the face of a natural genetic revolution." Laura wasn't sure how she felt now. "Can't we just get rid of them...meaning my abilities?" She asked hopefully. "I'm not sure if that's possible." Tim scowled. "We'd need to do research. I have a file on my hard drive that details 'unusual genetic occurences'. I can start there." "Thanks, Tim." Laura rubbed her eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked. "No. My eyes are burning."

Laura closed them and opened them several times. He gasped as her bright green eyes appeared to glow suddenly gold. "What?" She asked warily. "Uh...unless I miss my guess, you're about to mutate again." Tim backed away slowly, grabbing his camera phone and pointing it at Laura. "Tim?" She was about to cry, when two beams of golden light lanced out of her eyes, setting the edge of the coffee table on fire! "Eeeee!" She screamed and quickly closed her eyes.

Tim put out the fire with an old pet blanket located near the couch. He waved the smoke away from his face as Laura whimpered. "I'm sorry!" Mrs. Servo had smelled the smoke and came rushing downstairs. "What on Earth?" "Uh...sorry mom!" Tim apologized as he grabbed a white deodorant candle from a shelf and threw it on the burned edge of the table. "Laura and I were playing around, and I knocked the candle over." Tim's lie was brilliant, Laura praised.

"For God sakes Tim, be careful!" Mrs. Servo chastised him before joining them in the living room. "I'm sorry...have we met?" She waved some smoke away. Laura gingerly opened one eye a crack. The burning sensation had stopped...just in time. "No, I'm Laura Lake. I attend Tim's school." She sheepishly extended a hand and Mrs. Servo took it. Laura remembered to use a fraction of her strength. She would have to learn to control these bizarre powers for as long as she had them.

Mrs. Servo politely left the young people alone after being reassured by Tim that there would be no more horseplay in the house. Behind Laura's back Mrs. Servo winked and smiled at her son, giving him the thumbs up at his choice of girl. Tim reddened. Laura rubbed her eyes again. "That was close!" She remarked. "You're not kidding!" He collapsed back into the easy chair. "Great lie, Tim. I'm impressed! Thanks!" She praised, embarrassing him further. "That would likely be the first of many more lies." Tim grumbled. Laura was depressed, suddenly realizing the magnitude of her situation. "How old are you again?" He prompted.

"Sixteen. I'll be seventeen soon." Laura replied. "Is that important?" She was perplexed. "No. It just tells me that the next two years of your life will be critical." Tim commented. "You must remain hidden." Laura sighed loudly. "I refuse to simply hide, Tim. These were supposed to be the happiest days of our lives." Tim nodded. "I understand. You also need to see the bigger picture here." Laura cocked her head, allowing her now sandy brown hair to flip across her shoulder. "Meaning what?" Tim stood and began pacing again. "Laura, the world is such a mess today." He began solemnly. "Terrorism. Rampant crime driven by greed or lust for power."

"Corruption running wild at every level of government. Wars. Starvation. Disease. Evil tends to win over good." "Thank you Doctor Doom." Laura snapped sarcastically. "The world has always been a mess, Tim. History shows us that fact time and time again." He slowed to a stop. "Yes, but you have been given a gift. Don't you see?" Laura's eyes began to glaze over, not due to a mutation, but the deep thoughts that Tim had laid out for her. "You mean that I'm some kind of a _Messiah_?" She asked skeptically. Tim shook his head. "No, i'm not particularly religious. I pride myself on being logical and scientific." He added.

"Nevertheless, your abilities defy logic. I guess what i'm getting at is...perhaps you were given these powers for a reason?" "We can debate that all night Tim." Laura countered. "I know. We have to learn more about you." Tim said. "Meaning, how you're put together. What caused the mutations, etc." Laura didn't care for where the young genius was going with this. "What's the plan?" She prodded. "First, research and development. I think that you should follow up on this Tekamah Cave incident. Can you find the caves again?" Laura nodded. "I think so. I haven't been back there since the event."

"I know it's near Comet Creek which flows into Crater Lake. The yellowish liquid ran near the base of the hill and reversed its flow toward the back of the caves." "Good. It's likely that there's an underground spring or something. It bubbled up from below the lake, i'd bet." Tim considered. "You're certain that it wasn't sulphur?" Laura had mentioned that the liquid had no smell at all. "I'm sure. I guess that i'll be spending Spring Break in a musty old cave." She remarked sourly.

"When can you go?" Tim rubbed his thin chin. "This is a journey that you must take yourself." Laura frowned. "Meaning that you're scared?" "No." Tim chuckled. "I can be of more use here, researching...your DNA." He quickly yanked one of Laura's multi-colored strands of hair from her head. "Ouch!" She yelped, and began rubbing the spot. "It's all in the name of science, honey." He grabbed a test tube and dropped Laura's hair strand in it, sealing the top.

Meanwhile, across town, Mike Trent had grown into a good sized athlete. He had developed problems of his own, however. He and Laura weren't close at the moment, yet she could tell something was going on with him. Mike tossed and turned all night, the nightmares had become relentless. Tonight he envisioned his biological parents driving the family car. His view seemed to be from the back seat. The car was speeding, careening over the debris strewn road.

Mike glanced behind him through the rear window. A black van was chasing them, and beyond that, the skies had darkened. The twister snaked down from the heavens, like the finger of God Himself had stirred the amber waves of corn, ripping them from their roots. His mother was in the front seat screaming. A big lake seemed to be on fire to his right, the sky had become a sickly green to his left. Mike was about to turn to his parents, when the rear of the car became airborne.

The back door of the sedan was ripped open and torn off. He felt himself being sucked out into the air by the tornado's vortex. The car appeared to disintegrate before him. Mike felt like he was sailing above the fields. He watched helplessly, as the black van following them burst into flames, and he suddenly landed in a ditch filled with a slimy yellow liquid. A small wave of yellow engulfed him and then everything went black.

Mike woke up yelling. He sat up in his bed, soaked in sweat, and breathing heavily. This happened to him several times over the subsequent years. Each time, his foster parents assured him that the nightmares were caused by something he ate, or perhaps something he'd seen on TV. Mike was skeptical. It seemed to him that he was reliving the past.

There had been several tornadoes over the years, but none of them came close to the devastation wrought by the twister swarm that had thrust Mike into their world. The Trents had told Mike about his true origin when he turned fifteen, and they judged he could handle the truth. They also told Mike of Laura's tragedy that same day. _Were the events somehow linked_? He often pondered. Marion had always said that things happened for a reason, and they considered themselves blessed to have saved both children from uncertain fates.

Next Chapter: Explorer


	3. Chapter 3: Explorer

Laura Lake of Falcon Claw Explorer

**Explorer**

Laura had decided to explore the Tekameh Caves alone. She'd borrowed a number of items from Tim, such as a flashlight, digital flash camera, small trash bag, small pick ax, large test tubes, and a heavy duty shovel.

The equipment was no problem for her to carry due to her substantial strength and endurance. Her aim was to collect a number of the yellowish stones, the surrounding golden liquid, and any other soil samples.

Tim could study all of these and hopefully come up with a connection to her acquired super powers.

What Laura didn't know was that this day would completely change her life. She had talked her Aunt Wanda into letting her buy a dirt bike. She could certainly run faster than the machine, yet Tim had told her that she needed to keep up appearances.

The specter of being turned into a lab rat still frightened her, though she was beginning to doubt that any cell could hold her. Laura had only told two people where she was going, Tim, and her Aunt Wanda, the busy middle-aged lady who had been Laura's legal guardian since her parents had died.

Wanda thought that Laura was silly for exploring musty old caves on a beautiful spring day, but let her have her fun. _She meant well_, Laura grumbled, but _Aunt Wanda tended to be overprotective_. She'd only recently told Laura about the brutal slaying of her parents when she was a child.

Laura had been depressed for months after hearing the truth, but soon realized that she had needed to understand it. Today, she was full of an almost obsessive curiosity about the caves and the strange yellow minerals which ran through them. She sped towards Crater Lake on her dirt bike.

Laura loved speed. It was a bit reckless of her, she knew, but it's not as if she was going to get hurt on the powerful motorbike. She was mindful, of course, that she could hurt others. Quickly, she came upon the trail nearly rendered invisible by the vegetation's overgrowth.

The trail led up a slight incline, which was just above the Tekameh Cave entrance. Laura had spied the yellow liquid still running beneath the fresher clearer water of Comet Creek. She slowed and then stopped her motorbike, prudently hiding it behind some dense shrubbery.

Laura hopped off and immediately examined the yellow minerals just below her feet. She dug a bit of it out, and placed it carefully in the first of the large test tubes. Using her immense strength, Laura had crushed the yellow mineral rocks into powder. She sealed the tube and stored it in Tim's kit.

Laura located the partially hidden entrance to the cave, and engaged her high powered kryptonite flashlight. The greenish glow played across the dark cave walls. She advanced slowly, peering into the darkness with her superior vision. She caught a glimpse of some odd colored stones just ahead.

The young explorer walked up to the rocky crag and gazed intensely at the color patterns. She aimed the specialized flashlight's beam at the wall. The color patterns were actually some type of drawings, apparently engraved into the cave wall. As she moved along, the drawings disappeared.

The etchings only became visible under the direct beams from the flashlight. They appeared in between the more common Native American writings. "That's bizarre!" She exclaimed aloud. Laura used her heightened sense of touch to feel the images that had been carved into the rocks.

To the uneducated, the indentations would appear to be simple imperfections in the cave wall surface. _The perfect way to hide a message from the ancient Tekamah Tribe_, Laura assumed. _The writings on the walls could have been meant for a more advanced race...to be read in the future!_

Laura flipped the flashlight beams further along the passageway, following the hidden drawings deep into the cavern. The rocky path led her in a roughly circular pattern toward a much larger antechamber. Finally, the mysterious writings ended at an amazingly smooth patch of cave wall.

At the center of the antechamber was a good sized pool of the yellow liquid. It had congealed in the deepest part of the cave floor. Laura couldn't see the bottom without using her super vision. The yellow minerals bubbled up from beneath the floor just as Tim had predicted.

_A leak or spring from far deeper beneath Crater Lake_? Laura guessed. This chamber also had a number of strange symbols carved into the walls at seemingly random intervals. She reached down gingerly into the edge of the mineral pool and came up with a roughly fist sized yellow rock.

Instantly, Laura felt a surge of energy, like if she'd had too much sugar or caffeine. The rush seemed to command her full attention. _Hmm...I wonder_...? Laura experimented by crushing a much larger yellow rock, crumpling it like a piece of paper. She repeated the experiment on a clear, normal looking gray rock, with much the same result. Fear, excitement, and a bit of relief washed over her.

_I'm no genetic freak_! She surmised. _The mineral rocks had somehow caused the effects_! That still didn't explain exactly what happened, or how long the effects would last. She made her way back towards the cave entrance where she'd first seen the mysterious symbols.

She again let her flashlight beam play over them. It was no use, to her the symbols were still unrecognizable. It could have been written in Egyptian Hieroglyphics for all she knew. _Tim would know,_ _he always does_. Laura thought as she flipped open her digital camera cell phone.

She called her young genius friend. "Hey Tim, this is Laura." The science student was engrossed in yet another web researching venture. "Thee Laura Lake? Spelunker extra ordinaire? The _Lara Croft _of Falcon Claw?" He asked sarcastically. "You're calling me? What happened? Did you break a nail?"

Laura sighed before answering. "Funny, Tim! Give me some credit, will ya?" She responded before shining the flashlight beam on the first of the unusual drawings. "I found some cave symbols. They only appear after being illuminated. Observe." Laura pointed her camera phone at the drawings.

As if on cue, the symbols were bathed in a greenish glow. She popped the flashlight off, and they disappeared. Flipping the light on them again caused their reappearance. "Voila!" Laura remarked proudly. "I'll just bet that no one ever bothered to read them before, assuming they could be read."

Tim squinted to see the illuminated patterns. "Nice! Nice!" He commented as he studied them. "What's it say?" Laura shrugged off the question. "I have no idea. You're the brains of the operation." She quipped. "Me explorer, you scientist." Tim laughed loudly. "I'm going to record this."

"We'll enlarge the images and study them later." Tim said excitedly as Laura slowly played the kryptonite beams over the indentations. "The patterns do seem to have some uniformity." Tim added. Laura nodded. "I'll bet that they're some ancient Native American language that no one knows."

"Laura, you're a genius!" Tim playfully praised. "Hardly." She chuckled. "It's probably Native American graffiti that says 'Palefaces Suck!" Tim grinned thinly. "Okay, I've set up the DVD to store the info. Just walk slowly along the wall shining the beam on them. Good." Laura did as instructed.

She made her way along the edge of the rocky path. "This is way cool!" Tim yelled. "Really? You haven't seen anything yet." Laura stated as she examined one of the walls. "Wait! Stop!" Tim ordered and Laura froze in her tracks. "What?" Tim's eyes narrowed. "Back up a bit."

Laura complied. "That's the first symbol that I could actually recognize." Tim explained. "The two-headed dragon." Laura stepped back to catch the full image. "Dragon?" She questioned. "I thought that was only found in Asian cultures and _Dungeons and Dragons _for Geeks 101." She snidely remarked.

"I haven't seen any of the more common Native American symbols like 'Water' 'Sun' 'Moon' and the like. At least that's what Mr. Hargrove taught in American History class." Tim informed her.

"One of them probably saw a mutated iguana or something." Laura downplayed the figure's significance. "True." Tim reluctantly agreed.

"_Dragons and other winged animals were common hieroglyphs in the Southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central and South American cultures. Some examples would be the Aztecs, Inca, and Mayans." Tim continued, much to Laura's chagrin._

"_They tended to worship the symbols as their deities." Laura couldn't resist. "Oh no! Beware the iguana god!" She laughed. "I bet they sacrificed virgins, too!" Tim flashed a smile of false bravado._

"That wouldn't have anything to do with me." He joked. "That would most likely be your problem, Laura." She loved teasing her geeky school friend. "Yeah right!" "They certainly would've sacrificed a young minx like you to their Iguana God!"

Tim quipped. Laura snickered. "What if they made me their queen instead?" She playfully challenged. "Have you ever seen writings like these, before?" Laura asked as she moved on.

Tim moved in closer to view the images on screen. "Not really. I'll have to look them up in the Native American databases, though." He replied. "Check the wall behind you." Laura swiveled around, and sure enough there were more cave drawings. Some were written in the nearly invisible green kryptonite color, and others were inscribed the more common black color.

"Those look a little more familiar." Tim assessed. "There are the symbols for water, bison, hunt, moon, and sun." Laura pointed the camera to each. "Maybe their writing style changed over the years." She speculated. Tim's voice rose with excitement.

"We may be looking at the evolution of a new Native American language, Laura. Think about it. No one has likely ever seen these hidden symbols before." Laura nodded. "Do ya think I'll get extra credit grades for Sociology this year?" She quipped.

"I wouldn't doubt it." Tim grinned. Laura had reached the end of the passageway. She was about to put the phone away when she caught a glimpse of more greenish writings partially hidden behind a large stalagmite. "Tim! Check this out!" She waved the camera phone at them.

"What? Did you find the Great Iguana God? I bet he's got a nice big tongue just for you!" He taunted. "Dude, you're sick!" Laura laughed. "No, see for yourself." The images were carved into the wall in a perfect circle.

Laura aimed the flashlight in a wide beam. A second ring was built within the first, and several figures were inscribed between them. Each section contained unique characters. "Whoa! That's pretty high tech for a bunch of iguana worshipping aborigines!" Tim said as he admired the carvings.

None of these symbols looked familiar either. "Maybe it's related to the Aztec Calendar." He speculated. Laura steadied the camera phone so Tim could get a nice clean shot of it. "Do you think we'll be rich?" She asked hopefully. "Probably not," He added.

"Even the best geologists, archaeologists, and linguists only make decent money. Certainly not like in the technology sector." Laura was disappointed. "We can't all be techno-geeks like you, buddy." She said. "Though it beats working on the farm in this half-ass backwards one cow town for the rest of my natural life_."_

"If we combine our forces young Pad Wan, we could create a techno-agricultural farm complete with hybrid crops, low cost labor, and mad-cow disease free livestock." Tim quipped. "It is to dream." Laura joked. "Can we hire some flunkies to shovel out the barn and corral, so I don't have to do it?" She snickered.

"Whatever you desire my cow-pie pitching princess." Tim shamelessly flirted.

"'kay. Have you got the shot recorded?" Laura asked. "Yes." Tim confirmed. "And now for something completely different." She teased, placing the camera phone atop a flat rock nearby. "Nothing up my sleeve..."

Laura grabbed a softball size boulder with one hand and a good-sized rock filled with the yellow mineral with the other. "You see before you two average looking rocks." She added. "Observe." Laura smashed the two rocks into each other.

Immediately they turned to dust with the force of the impact. "Whoa!" Tim exclaimed as he nearly fell out of his chair. "See? Freak of nature." Laura sighed with disdain. "You need to gather those samples and get back here!" Tim gasped.

"I'll need to run some tests on the rocks, the minerals, and you." He directed. "Will do, _Dr. Frankenstein_." Laura said and snapped off her cell phone. She also took a few moments to grab some still photo shots of the more intricate drawings.

Before she left, Laura traced the yellowish water to its alleged source, the deep pool near the back of the cavern. She proceeded to scrape some of the dried mineral into a test tube, collect some of the liquid version, and pack it all away for Tim's study.

The yellowish mineral deposits led to a crack in the cave wall about two feet above the cavern's steep gradient. It poured in like a faucet, presumably from beneath Crater Lake. Laura washed her hands in the fresh yellow water.

She headed back out of the caves with the samples. Suddenly, Laura felt a burst of energy, like she was amped up on caffeine. She imagined herself to be indestructible. Laura was normally an average dirt bike rider.

She'd only been riding for a few months, since spring began. Laura loaded her things onto the back of the motorbike and tied them securely to the seat storage area. Laura hopped onto the bike and peeled out, her eyes had gone completely yellow.

She plowed through some flatlands at the bike's top speed, and tore through a nearby mud bog. Laura began to do tricks with the bike. She zipped up a mogul and backflipped the bike onto a well worn trail.

Laura sped down one trail and up the next without any regard for safety. On a slope she hit a bad angle and was thrown off the bike at full speed. The teen was now airborne, and solidly crashed through a tree, severing it in half!

The bike slid into a deep bog and stalled out. Laura finally landed several yards away, face first against a rock outcropping. The rock split, dividing evenly in two! She lay atop a series of bramble bushes, which shredded her clothes.

"Whoa! Wipeout!" Laura joked as she sat up. The scrappy teen hadn't a scratch on her! "What a rush!" Within seconds she stood and walked back toward her slowly sinking motorbike. Her gear had flown over the handlebars and into a thicket.

She hoped that the test tubes, mineral samples, and rock comparisons were still intact. Laura stepped into the mud bog and lifted the bike out with one hand, lofting it carefully back onto the smooth trail.

_Power! I've acquired super power_! Laura thought, on a major ego trip. The bike's engine was filled with muck. It wouldn't be starting anytime soon. _No problem_! She held the bike up with one hand and gathered her things with the other. They were still secured in her backpack.

Laura zipped home at hyper speed. Luckily the samples hadn't been disturbed as she examined them back at her Aunt Wanda's farm. She considered the entire afternoon. _The horrendous crash would_ _have killed a normal person_, she rationalized. Her heart seemed to beat twice as fast as she remembered the impact.

_Maybe I overdosed on the mineral rocks_? She silently speculated. _It's obvious that they have an effect_ _on me_. The accident felt more like a bump. She'd barely noticed it at all. After a speedy shower and whirlwind change of clothes, Laura called Tim.

"Dude, you're not gonna believe this!" Laura began excitedly after Tim answered her call. "You discovered a Wooly Mammoth encased in ice at the back of the cave and brought it back to life?" Tim's voice dripped with sarcasm. "No, butthead!" Laura snapped.

"The yellow minerals seemed to amp me up!" Laura still sounded too hyper. "I stuck my hands in the pool of yellow water and…" Tim interrupted her. "And you discovered an ancient sewer system?" He couldn't resist the temptation to tease her. "Ew!" Laura wrinkled her nose. "And Ew again!"

"The yellow minerals soaked into my skin and turned me into some kind of superhero!" Laura could barely contain her excitement. At first Tim was silent. "Get out!" He scoffed. "You've been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons." She quickly explained what had happened.

Laura had mentioned that before she'd left the caves, she'd felt indestructible. "I'm just reaching Laura…" He speculated. "But what if it's a type of performance enhancing drug?" Laura was understandably skeptical. "Buried in a cave in the middle of nowhere?"

Tim's brow wrinkled. "It could have been a type of illegal chemical dump." Laura considered that. "Nope, remember the stories of the Tekamah Indians? They discovered the caves and considered them 'bad medicine' or cursed by dark spirits." She recalled the event for the teen genius.

"Yes." Tim confirmed. "That would've been several centuries before any drug experimentation took place, illegal or otherwise. Let's backtrack. What kinds of abilities do you use consistently?" Laura ticked off the bizarre elements on her long thin fingers.

"Superior strength, hyper speed, setting fires with my eyes, immediate healing, seeing through solid objects, and now virtual indestructibility." She responded. Tim reflected thoughtfully. "It still sounds like genetic manipulation but by whom, how, and why?"

"Losing me, wonder boy." Laura was growing frustrated. "A singer's voice can be trained, but they had to have some degree of genetic talent to begin with." Tim added, "Unlike _American Idol_!" Laura still felt jittery. "You mean the mineral rocks may have nothing to do with it?"

"I can't prove anything without further evidence and experimentation." Tim explained. "The opposite can also be true…that you're infected by the minerals and it's ramping up your genetic code." He postulated. "Like an amplifier for an electric guitar?" Laura decided that made the most sense.

"Exact-amundo, my sweet!" Tim flirted. "How can we be sure one way or the other?" Laura asked in passing. "We can't. For all we know, you'll wake up tomorrow morning and this will all be gone."

"Well, the good news is that I feel tired." Laura yawned to emphasize her point. "That could mean that the mineral's effects are limited." Tim stretched. "That is good news! Tomorrow you'll zip by and drop off the samples, correct?" Laura nodded as her eyelids felt heavy. "See you then."

After they hung up, Tim began preliminary research, and Laura dropped right off to sleep. The next morning she thought that she was back to her old self. Laura felt refreshed and unusually happy. She even started humming one of those sappy love songs that she'd always hated to listen to.

Laura spun in and out of the shower, dressed, and set the kitchen table for breakfast, all before Aunt Wanda had awakened. The hyper speed power was still there. Laura was a bit disappointed that things hadn't truly gone back to normal. _Maybe this is a mixed blessing_, she pondered.

Saturday, after breakfast, Laura called Tim. She knew that the boy genius was already awake and pounding info into his computer. _How could I face mundane Falcon Claw High classes Monday_ _morning, knowing that I'm some type of mutant super hero_? She silently went over the last few days.

"Hi Tim!" She greeted him ecstatically. "Are you ready for the sample testing?" Tim confirmed that the desktop computer and his laptop were both ready to go. He'd already had some programs running overnight to determine if there were any instances of unnatural abilities posted on websites.

He'd been amazed at the volume of incidents the various searches had recovered. He'd put the whole database on a number of backup discs. The young boy was obsessed with gathering information. He'd only slept for a few hours. Laura informed him that she'd be over shortly.

Outside, Laura had completed all of her chores, and was busy speeding around the farm hopefully using up some excess energy. The teen beauty hadn't yet broken a sweat. On a whim, Laura glanced around and then jumped skyward…rising above the grassy field a good twenty feet!

"Wow!" Laura yelled and spun around in a circle, creating a minor dust storm. The sand, soil, and pebbles quickly rotated away and settled a good distance from her. On a major power trip, young Laura ran at hyper speed and leapt towards Aunt Wanda's barn.

She soared higher and higher, landing atop the grain silo's apex! "This is so cool!"

Laura gazed out over the greenish amber farm fields, enjoying the mid-morning sunshine. _I'd better get going…either_ _this will be a disaster or a new experiment_ she thought and jumped from the top of the grain silo.

Laura spread her arms like birds' wings and sailed above the tree line, some low foliage, past the horse corral, across the gravel access road and dove into her Aunt Wanda's backyard. She landed in a heap of mud, shoulder first, somersaulting to a stop. _Got to work on those landings, girl_…

She was silently quite proud of herself. _One day, I'll master the power of flight_. Laura zipped back into her room for another quick change before starting out for Tim's house. She opted to use her hyper speed for the time being. Moments later she was at his door, samples in hand.

"Hi Tim!" Laura couldn't contain her excitement. "Guess what I did this morning?" He ushered her into the lower level den where his computer system was ready to go. "You won the lotto?" Tim asked sarcastically. "Nope, I flew." Laura stated, calmly waiting for that to sink in.

Tim's supercharged mind went blank. Silence. "Flew? As in 'flew like a bird?" He realized what she had related. Laura laughed. "Exactly. My form was closer to an albatross than a swan. My landings need work." Tim's eyes widened. "Flying? Defying gravity? That's so not normal."

"Do ya think?" Laura sounded petulant. "My surprising supernatural abilities just keep on coming." She gave him a few more details. "Okay, well, how did you sleep?" Tim was analyzing something on his laptop. "Fine, I guess, though I had a couple of nightmares." Laura admitted.

Suddenly, Laura's x-ray eyesight kicked in, and she saw right through Tim. Immediately she closed her eyes and opened them, therefore eliminating the unsettling vision. _I have to learn to control my_ _abilities_, she rationalized. "Let's have a look at the cave drawings…" She changed the subject.

"Here are your samples, Tim." She handed him the backpack. "Great! I'll get my chemistry set to start analyzing them." He bolted to the basement, leaving Laura alone with her thoughts. She concentrated on the complex set of problems that these changes brought.

Tim set up a number of chemical tests for the yellow mineral, and returned after a bit to Laura, who had already pulled up the cave drawings DVD on the laptop. She'd also been absently scribbling some figures on a nearby pad of paper. "Laura!" He shouted. "What? Gawd! I'm right here!"

"Your hair…" Tim began with an open mouth. "Yeah? What about it?" Laura asked warily. "It's gone blonde!" He gasped. "Blonde? I don't understand. I never color my hair!" Laura added. "I'm supposed to be naturally brown to black-haired."

"If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that your genetic code and possibly your adolescent hormones are in flux." Tim stared as Laura's eyes flashed from blue to green and back again. "Oh crap!" She exclaimed. "Don't stare!" Tim courteously glanced away. Laura's coloring returned to normal.

"What are you doodling?" He returned his attention back to her. Page after page of cave symbols crossed his laptop's screen. "Nothing! Why?" Laura looked down to find that she'd written a series of the cave's walls symbols in a specific pattern akin to a paragraph.

"Yikes! I wasn't even paying that much attention to the cave drawings." She defended as Tim examined her steno pad and cross referenced the writings with it from the laptop photos. "Laura! What you wrote is a continuation of the wall drawing patterns!"

Laura was starting to freak out again. The computer beeped indicating that its search of Native American databases had ended. The system had found no exact matches in its archives. Tim double-checked Laura's scribbling and the computer's analyses.

"This language is totally unique!" He stated with confidence. "Really?" Laura was amazed. "Then, it's a significant historical find?" Tim eyed the steno page again and frowned. "Yes! Laura, what does this say?" He circled a group of symbols with a pen. "How should I know?" She whined.

Laura's eyes briefly flashed a bright golden yellow as she read the steno pad. "It says something about a great fire in the sky…turning night into day." She parroted as if detached from the whole situation. "A warrior had fallen to Mother Earth…" She shook her head. "What the…?"

"You can read this language!" Tim accused. Laura dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "No! No, I can't!" She protested as her eyes flashed once again. "The daughter of the first house shall rule with an iron fist!" Laura seemed to be discussing this from a distance. "Now, you're scaring me."

Tim involuntarily shivered. "De-Nile ain't just a river in Egypt, my dear!" Laura's eyes returned to normal. "How can I read this language? I can't even speak Spanish properly and I'm halfway through the semester." She admitted with confusion. "Read some more." Tim directed her.

Laura forced herself to concentrate on the symbols both on her steno pad and the laptop. "The sins of the father will be revealed…" She muttered. "The chosen one will take her place in the skies on the back of an eagle...justice will be meted out. What the hell does all that mean?" She grumbled.

Tim shrugged. "The part about turning night into day probably refers to the comet which crashed to Earth and created Crater Lake. But the phrase 'justice will be meted out' doesn't sound like anything an uneducated Native American would say." Laura sighed. "Maybe the writings are all fake?"

"Possibly…" Tim wasn't convinced. "Which gives us a new set of problems like who wrote them, and why. It sounds like a group of Nostradamus's ominous predictions. I'm more interested in how you learned to read this language, real or not, with virtual immediacy."

"I couldn't read them before I'd crashed." Laura reminded him. "There have been instances of changes in behavior caused by a sharp blow to the head, or getting struck by lightning." Tim recalled. "Sometimes, skydivers claim to have had their hearing restored or asthma cured after jumping."

"That doesn't seem to apply here. These instances are extremely rare." He concluded and sat down next to his mutant friend. "I told you that I'm a freak show!" Laura said with disgust. "Now what?"

Tim was puzzled. "Keep reading the symbols. Maybe they hold an answer."

"I'll type it all up after we've finished and analyze what we have." He offered. Laura translated as much of the writings as she could within a couple of hours. She still hadn't deciphered the main collections of characters within the twin circles.

They seemed to have a different pattern, as if a new author had written them. "What do we have, Tim-ster?" Laura asked after she grew tired of reading the endless symbols. Tim stared at the printouts. "There are about a hundred or so phrases, warnings, and descriptions that I've logged."

"What about the encircled ones?" Laura was still frustrated by the mysterious writings. "I'm not sure. Maybe they're a different form of communication, like mathematics or musical notes." He replied hesitantly. "One thing that's certain…the stories are about you!" Tim dropped the bomb on her.

"What?" Laura gasped.

Next Chapter: Topaz


	4. Chapter 4: Topaz

Laura Lake of Falcon Claw: **Topaz**

After Tim's revelations about his theory that Laura was the subject of the mysterious writings on the walls of the Tekamah caves, she was more unnerved than ever. _Was it a coincidence_? Sundays were usually slow in the sleepy farming town of Falcon Claw. Most folks were either at services or resting.

Laura continued to practice her new abilities, though she was careful to hide them from the world, including her Aunt Wanda, her next door neighbor, Mike Trent, and her only female friend, Shana Springbrook. She dared only to share her unique powers with Tim Servo.

Laura leapt from the top of the barn, gliding easily the hundred or so yards between her and the back porch of Aunt Wanda's ranch house. Crows scattered and squawked with the new perceived threat to their nests and food sources. Cattle watched passively from the nearby grazing land.

After exercising her varying abilities, Laura called Tim and invited herself over to the Servo's modest townhome on the other side of Falcon Claw. She switched into hyper speed and again the world seemed to be moving in slow motion. She dashed through acre after acre of lush farmland.

It was nearly dusk by the time Laura knocked on Tim's door, though it only taken her a few moments to traverse the route normally an hour from Aunt Wanda's farm by car. Tim had been a loyal friend to Laura since they began classes at Falcon Claw High School.

"Hey Tim! Put down your PDA and answer the door!" She taunted, yelling playfully through the back door's screen. The slim geeky teen was glad to see his unusually talented friend. He had mousy brown hair usually slicked back, dark brown eyes, and a gaunt face.

Tim removed his thick, wire framed glasses and looked over Laura from head to toe. He promptly invited Laura inside. The sixteen year old boy genius made no secret of his infatuation with Laura, even before he found out about her unusual abilities.

At the moment, Laura sported long fluffy brown hair, blue-green eyes, a thin face with high cheekbones, a well proportioned slim muscular frame, and was about a full head taller than Tim.

Laura had developed a chameleon-like ability to change her physical appearance.

Over the weekend, she'd gone full circle from light brown to blonde to raven black colored hair, and only this morning had it returned to its more common dark brown hue. Her Aunt Wanda just assumed that it was some type of teen girl faze. Laura hoped that she'd keep that opinion.

It was clear that Tim had something on his immense mind, as he quickly guided Laura downstairs to the family rec-room, presumably out of his relatives' earshot. "What's new professor?" Laura began warily. "I checked the chemical element diagnosis program this morning and…" He started.

Tim silenced. A door upstairs slammed shut. "And what?" Laura prompted. "I was waiting for my parents to leave… the analysis shows that the yellow mineral does not exist in nature, at least not our nature." He paused purposefully to let that sink in. "Then it is a new element!" Laura was excited.

"Yes. It doesn't belong…here on Earth." Tim hedged. Laura's mouth was agape. "It's from outer space?" She beckoned him for further explanation. "Most likely…yes. I hypothesize that it landed on Earth over three thousand years ago. It's logical to assume that the mineral was within the comet that created Crater Lake."

"It mixed with Earth's natural elements and created a new matrix." Tim took a deep breath before continuing. "Laura…this element…if it's within your body is unnatural." Laura grew silent. "Hence the super charged capabilities and skills." Tim added as he cleared his throat.

Tim uncovered his mineral samples and Laura examined them. "It now has a translucent **topaz** color." He explained. "I removed as many impurities as I could with my limited chemistry set." Laura picked up the gem-like rock and gazed through it with her x-ray vision. She felt the power pulse through her.

Immediately, she shoved it back into the glass jar which had encased it. Even the jar took on a bright yellow tint. "It's pretty." Laura remarked, though her blood began to run cold. Tim stood stoically alongside his mutant friend. "Maybe you'd better sit down for this next story." He urged.

"What?" She sat down in the comfortable futon and gazed up at the teen genius. "If my theory holds true…the mineral is reorganizing your DNA." Tim said devoid of emotion. "You mean like a poison?" Laura asked as she neared tears. "No, more like a genetic vitamin." Tim continued.

"To be honest with you, I'm not yet qualified to determine the risks." He sighed. "I think that if the element has been in your system for the last ten years, and was hazardous, you'd already be dead." Laura put her head in her hands. "There's a cheery thought, Tim."

"I can only speculate, but I think the mineral takes your innate abilities and boosts them, like your guitar amplifier analogy. I can call in some favors from my Aunt who works at the Biology Lab in Grandville, but I have to keep any knowledge of where it came from a secret."

"I'll need a blood sample, a DNA scrape, and uh… urine sample from you." Tim reddened. "Ew gross!" Laura yelled. "I'm not thrilled about that prospect either, my mutant friend, but it's all in the name of Science. We dare not trust the exam to a common doctor."

"My fear of you becoming a lab rat would ring true." Tim stated honestly. "I understand." Laura took a deep breath. Her lungs seemed to suddenly hold incredible strength. Tim reached over and plucked another large brownish red hair from Laura's head. "Ow!" She rubbed the spot. "DNA sample." Tim joked.

He dropped Laura's hair follicle into a clean, unmarked test tube. "I guess I'll have to bring the…um…required items over tomorrow." Laura shook her head. "I also suspect that an ordinary syringe needle will not penetrate that thick skin of yours." Tim pointed out.

"What're you tryin' to say?" Laura teased. "You'll have to take your own blood sample, needle and all." He menaced. "No way! My Aunt Wanda already thinks I'm a nut job. That's all I need is to have her catch me messing around with a needle. We'll have to do without it."

"What should we name our new mineral?" Laura swiftly changed the subject. "It's up to you _super girl._ You discovered it." Tim said, throwing his hands up in resignation. "Okay, I'll allow myself the ego trip…let's call it _Loracite_." She decided. "Sounds like a plan." Tim agreed.

"Hereafter, this element shall be named _Loracite, Matrix Prime_." Tim pronounced in a silly deep voice. Laura managed a snicker despite the depressing situation. "I believe that the Loracite is densely packing your DNA, like a body builder packs on muscular weight."

Laura listened carefully. "I think that since your DNA has likely been rearranged, you were able to survive the Motocross bike accident without a scratch, and could probably fall from a seven story building to the pavement, remaining uninjured, though I wouldn't suggest trying that."

"Laura, this genetic change may be irreversible." Tim added. She absorbed the impact of the news. "Okay, then I'm a permanent freak?" Tim nodded. "Possibly, again, I'm just speculating. All of the testing may bear this out." Tim considered.

"There's also the possibility that you must somehow consume the Loracite, like nourishment, to survive. My hope is that there's a good amount of the mineral to be mined and stored." Tim began pacing again, as he did every time that he was in significant thought.

Laura didn't find this change very amusing. "If not…?" She voiced the obvious. "If not, you may lose your abilities' effectiveness…or you may die." He replied darkly. "Terrific." Laura grumbled.

"I don't know, Tim." Laura ran some scenarios through her head. "I have never 'ingested' the Loracite." She reported. "I assume that I came into contact with the mineral when I was a child at the Tekamah Caves. Every time I touch the stuff, I seem to get a power boost, like a major adrenaline rush."

"Why doesn't anyone else have this problem?" Laura tried not to sound petulant. "I mean the creek, and the cave spring are right there out in the open for anyone to drink, swim in, or wash in. Why aren't there any super powered animals near the creek or any super fish within it?"

"I don't have any answers, only questions." Tim stated with frustration. "We also don't know that there haven't been any cases of mutation around here. I assume that they'd keep their abilities a secret, like you are. That reminds me…feast your lovely eyes on this." He handed her a DVD disc.

Laura put the DVD into the laptop and called up the data. "Wow!" Laura quickly read through the major headlines on the down-loads. "Over two hundred reports of beings with 'unusual' or 'supernatural' powers, right in the middle of Kansas?"

Tim nodded. "Kansas appears to be the epicenter. However, we have no reports of this magnitude here in Nebraska." Laura read through some of the more unusual occurrences. "Boy starts fires with his eyes." She said aloud. "Girl claims she can walk through walls, and transport through any solid object." Laura glanced at Tim.

"This is unbelievable." Laura commented. "Are you sure these reports are credible?" Tim glanced at a few over Laura's slim shoulder. "It's hard to say. The Internet isn't monitored very well for accuracy. I figure that there are enough strange reports out there, from people that couldn't possibly know one another that something had to be going on over there."

"A majority of them are in central Kansas." Laura observed. "Maybe I ought to take a run out there…or a flight." Her big blue eyes twinkled. "A flight?" Tim echoed. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. A girl that defies gravity would raise more than a few eyebrows."

"I mean people just don't fly…" He added. "No kidding, Sherlock!" Laura teased. "Observe." She made sure that Tim's parents hadn't returned by gazing through the walls and ceiling. Laura extended her arms outward from her side and closed her eyes in concentration.

Within seconds, Laura floated vertically about a foot above the basement carpet. Tim's eyes widened. She drifted to around a yard high, ducking her head beneath the ceiling tiles. She suddenly went horizontal, opened her eyes and literally flew, encircling Tim, and changing positions often.

Tim's jaw dropped. "Holy crap!" Laura landed softly on the plush carpeting. "When did this begin, again?" He inquired. "Last week. I jumped across a ravine just to see if I could do it." She explained. "At night, I've been practicing flight around Aunt Wanda's farm."

"I crash landed in a meadow, and tore up a good pair of jeans, but other than that, I'm fine." Laura continued. Tim ran his hand through his slicked back hair. "This is nuts!" Laura nodded. "Tell me about it! There goes my chance to lead a normal life, which brings me to my next point…"

"Since I've presumably been infected by the Loracite, and this change may be permanent, I've been concealing these bizarre abilities…lying to almost everyone…and hiding like a leper." Laura complained. "Next year, when I turn eighteen, I want to 'come out'."

"You want to what?" Tim was horrified. "I want to use my powers to change the world!" She stated boldly, and repeated her answer with conviction. "Change the world…or take it over?" Tim prodded. He always seemed to know what buttons to push to aggravate her.

"Oh pu-lease!" Laura defended. "I'm not that shallow!" Tim began his lecture. "That raises all types of scenarios." Laura resumed her seat on the futon. "Such as?" She baited. "The moral and physical ramifications are staggering." Tim's voice rose with alarm. "The implications are immense."

Laura sighed. "That's not much of a pep talk, coach." She commented dryly. "Laura, uneducated cultures may consider you a god!" He argued. "That would be a goddess, chief!" She snapped, adding: "I'm not religious at all. Why would I want to impersonate someone's deity?"

Tim started pacing back and forth. Laura wasn't getting it. "Let's say I went back to the caveman days, and showed some indigenous life forms a cell phone, cigarette lighter, and flashlight. The cavemen would consider me a god." He animatedly explained.

"They would either worship me, or attempt to kill me out of fear. So it would be with you in today's society. Governments would want to coerce you to do their bidding or else." Tim concluded. "Or else what?" She asked with irritation. "They can't make me do anything that I don't want to do."

"What about your friends and family?" Tim pointed out. "They can't defend themselves against a shadow government or even our legitimate one." Laura frowned. "I'd sue them at the very least for threatening me or my friends and family." Tim groaned. "You just don't grasp the concept."

"Let me put it another way." Tim debated. "As an American citizen, the President of the United States instructs you to assassinate a foreign dictator, what do you do? Tell him or her to shove it?" Laura folded her arms across her ample chest. "Of course I'd say no."

"Great. Since you don't want to play ball, the President passes a law forbidding you to use your powers on American soil. Then what? Do you defy the law? Move to another country?" Tim challenged. "You sure know how to take the fun out of something." Laura grumbled.

Tim settled down and stopped pacing. "If I wanted to defy the law, who could stop me?" Laura said indignantly. "Exactly my point, anyone with power could use your friends and family as hostages against you, forcing you into doing their bidding."

Laura's raven black hair suddenly changed to a reddish blonde, with bright yellow edges or streaks. Tim's eyes widened. "What?" She narrowed her eyes. "Your countenance has changed appearance again." Tim responded. "Swell!" Laura frowned. "I don't even know how to dress anymore."

Laura's face suddenly brightened, as she sped over to the full length mirror on the door of the basement bathroom. "That's it!" She happily raced back to the futon, scattering Tim's research papers across the rear half of the room. "Hey now!" Tim complained. "What's it?"

Laura grabbed a dark blanket from the futon's back, and wrapped it around her head and shoulders, playfully hiding her thin face from view. "Meet Gold Wing!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Huh? You want to run that by me again?" Tim was puzzled. "I'll assume a secret identity!" She laughed.

"Can you do it? Can you live a double life?" He questioned. "Why not? People do it all the time. Think of any good FBI agent, he or she would have to appear normal to divert suspicion. To that point, so do actors and actresses." Laura rationalized. Tim was finally amused.

"Or even people that cheat on their spouses or have criminal records." He grilled. "Must you be so negative?" Laura whipped the blanket around like a bullfighter. "I'm already living a double life. I've chosen to hide my abilities from Aunt Wanda and almost everybody else."

"Laura Lake is a normal dorky teenage girl…_Gold Wing_ is a superhero!" She stated with conviction. "Why name yourself after a motorcycle, I wonder?" Tim inquired. "Well, whatever! You get my point!" Laura countered. "You make it sound simple." Tim argued.

"Maybe I should think globally." Laura brainstormed. "What if I could stop a war? How about ending starvation in Africa, and throughout the world? The possibilities seem endless." Tim considered all that. "There's no question that you have the drive and motivation to become a superhero."

"Yet you must also have power." Tim explained. Laura felt as if her eyes were glazing over. "Tell me more, _Obi Wan_." She joked. Tim smirked. "Two things make the world go 'round. Money and influence translate to true power. You have neither." Laura thought about that carefully.

"Okay, point taken." Laura said. "There must be something that I can do." Tim plopped down in a green bean bag chair across from Laura. "We don't even know the extent of your abilities. What if you managed to involve yourself in a situation that you couldn't get out of?"

"Give me an example." Laura encouraged as she deftly back-flipped over the couch and landed squarely on the floor beside Tim. "You have a hostage situation." Tim began. "The terrorists threaten to kill one hostage an hour until their demands are met. You could do what, exactly?"

Laura's big bluish eyes suddenly narrowed. "I'd go barreling into the area and use my super speed to rescue the captives, then double back to take out the terrorists." Tim rubbed his thin chin. "Good. What if they shoot two hostages before you could rescue the others? Can you live with that?"

Laura grimaced. "Did I save, say the other eight?" Tim nodded. "Sure. Now the families of the dead hostages sue you because you didn't save them instead. It's a catch twenty-two. You're a hero and a goat." Laura wrinkled her nose. "I'll just have to save all of them, then."

Tim continued the mental exercise. "What if you simply 'took out' the hostage takers?" Laura hopped up onto her feet again. "You mean kill them?" Tim again nodded. "Can you kill another human being, no matter how evil?" Laura sighed.

"You're right. This is complicated. I shouldn't kill them…unless they left me no choice." Tim grinned. "Good answer. One would hope that there would always be a choice. If there's not, you have to accept the consequences."

_Crafting a young superhero is hard work_, Tim silently noted as he crossed his thin arms. "Well, what about ending wars, destroying weapons, and alleviating starvation?" Laura continued to address her new possible life. "Those are all laudable goals." He remarked.

"Let's say you could zip or fly around the world gathering food for the starving wretches in Africa. Who would foot the bill? Would you play _Robin Hood_ and take from the rich to give to the poor?" Tim grilled her. Laura appeared to be quite puzzled. "Through donations?" She guessed.

"Maybe I could create a 'Save the World' website?" She joked. Tim smiled. "Intriguing. I like that idea. If you achieve celebrity status, you could always make personal appearances for charity."

There was no stopping Laura now. "See? Now we're thinking outside the box." "Hmmm! How do I stop wars?" She asked rhetorically. "You could personally invade every country and confiscate their weapons." Tim was perplexed. "You'd have to disavow any ties to America." Laura whistled. "Revoke my citizenship? I don't like that idea. There must be another way."

"Why don't you start small, like fighting local crime?" Tim suggested. Laura's eyes widened. "There isn't enough true crime in Falcon Claw to fight. It would take me all of five minutes to catch any drug dealers, thieves, perverts, gang-bangers, corrupt cops or cheating spouses."

Tim nodded. "That's not exactly the best use of a superhero's time." He added. "There are always the natural disasters that plague the Midwest. You know, twisters, fires, floods, blizzards, the rare earthquake or the ubiquitous meteor showers." Laura brushed her long hair away from her eyes.

Tim gaped as Laura's appearance frequently alternated colors. Her hair switched from raven black to canary yellow follicles, and then her pupils bounced between blue, green, and brown hues. "What?" Laura noticed his vacant stare. "That's very unsettling." He said wistfully. "Whatever!" She snapped her fingers.

Suddenly Laura was all smiles again. "Which reminds me…" She flashed him a lopsided grin. "If I'm going to be a superhero with a secret identity, I'm going to need a disguise, or some kind of costume." Tim groaned. "I hear a power shopping spree coming on!"

"You betcha!" Laura chimed in. "I'm thinking of a nice black leather jacket, matching black leather pants, a slinky low cut blouse, black biker boots, and of course, some _bling_!" She added. "For geeky Laura Lake, I'll dress normally, and maybe add those tacky _cat glasses_ for show."

"I'll let you figure that part of the equation out." Tim rolled his eyes. "We need to test your limits, though, or you'll be one dead superhero!"

Next Chapter: _Gold Wing_


	5. Chapter 5: Revealed

Laura Lake : Gold Wing _Revealed_

Teaser:

Guest starring _Clark Kent, Chloe Sullivan, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen_.

**Central Nebraska, 2007**. – "You know Clark, I've just about had enough of these caves." Chloe grumbled, as she circled through the same cavern for the third time. "C'mon Chloe, where's your sense of adventure? We need to check out these symbols to see if any match the Kryptonian scribbling back at the Kawatchi Caves."

"You did not just say that, Clark." Chloe stopped in her tracks. "Haven't we had enough adventures for a lifetime?" The future Superman grinned widely. "You're not going soft, are you Chlo'?" He teased. "No! I thought we'd seen all the cave drawings that exist."

"So did I." Clark admitted. "I haven't yet located any Kryptonian symbols. These are all something totally different. My hope was that they held a clue to where Kara and Brainiac had gone.

"Chloe kept snapping pictures of the symbols with her cell phone camera. "I have no idea what culture these pictographs belong to. We'll have to send some files to an expert, if I can find a trustworthy one."

Clark continued to examine the drawings closely, but hadn't gotten any nearer to a solution. "Maybe I should check the outer area surrounding the cave.""Did you check the walls with your x-ray vision in case there was a hidden antechamber like back at the Kawatchi Mound?" Chloe asked.

"Yes. There wasn't anything." He replied. "Have you decided on who you're taking to the _Daily Planet_ Charity Ball?" Chloe quickly changed the subject."I don't have time for that." Clark answered sourly.

"Really? Or is it just that you and Lana have called it quits again?" Chloe always found a way to get under Clark's skin. "Thanks for stating the obvious, Chloe." Clark said bitterly. "Clark, you need to move on, Lana will." She added.

"I'm depressed enough without having to smile pretty at some Charity Benefit." He said with disdain. "You're missing the point, Clark. The dance benefits the Metropolis Underprivileged Children's Fund. You can sacrifice an evening of mooning over Lana for a good cause.

"Chloe followed Clark out of the cave. "Are you going?" He asked with disinterest. "Yes. Jimmy's taking me. C'mon Clark, we can dress up nice and help kids at the same time."

Clark was about to give in, when he was suddenly hit by a major force that knocked him clear across the edge of the meadow. The impact shock shook Chloe to her core as she fell to her knees, and tumbled into a ravine a few feet below her. Thankfully, she remained uninjured.

"What the hell was that, an earthquake?" She complained loudly. "What the…?" Clark asked as he quickly returned to his feet. Turning around, he spied a young girl with long black hair sprawled alongside the edge of the ravine.

"Ow! My head!" She exclaimed as she sat up. Chloe was flat on her backside at the base of the ravine. "Clark, are you okay?" She called back up. "What am I saying, of course you're okay." _Unless there's kryptonite around_, she silently scrambled back up the ditch to the level ground near the bottom of the cave entrance.

Clark gingerly headed toward the fallen girl. _Wait a minute! I actually felt that impact_! He observed, rubbing his own forearm. "I'm sorry dude!" The girl climbed to her knees.

"I wasn't watching where I was going. Are you alright?" Clark nodded as Chloe joined them. Clark and Chloe quickly exchanged glances. The same thoughts crossed their minds. _Did we just find a_ _new meteor freak_?

Chapter 1: **See Laura's origin story Death in the Heartland**

"I'm kind of new to this high speed running thing." She spoke before she thought. "High speed running thing?" Chloe echoed. The young girl reddened. "Oops! Apparently I also have a problem keeping my mouth shut." She glanced away.

"Hi. Laura, Laura Lake." She carefully shook Clark's hand. "Clark Kent." He responded. "And you must be his girlfriend?" Laura fished playfully. "Uh, no. We're just good friends." _Unfortunately_, Chloe added mentally. "Chloe Sullivan." She took Laura's slim fingered hand as well.

Clark thought he felt a surge of electricity as he and Laura made contact. "Are you sure that you're all right Clark?" Chloe asked, noting that he seemed to be favoring his right arm. The young superhero was stunned to see a bright brown soft ball sized bruise on his forearm where Laura had collided with him. Chloe's eyes widened. An injured Clark Kent was never a good sign, she mused.

Laura fidgeted, unsure of what to do or say next. "I didn't expect anyone to be out here." She opted to question them. "Why are you two out in the middle of nowhere like this anyway, or shouldn't I ask?" She made it a point to check out Clark from head to toe. _Nice_! She thought eyes appeared to flare yellow for a moment.

"We were …uh…" Clark began. "Exploring the caves behind us." Chloe finished for him. "Oh." Laura was suddenly worried. _Had they_ _discovered her secret_? "Is anyone out here with you?" Clark grilled as he used his x-ray vision to verify whatever Laura said. "No, I was just out running by myself."

She glanced at Chloe who had come up behind him. Clark took a second to check out Laura. She looked to be a bit younger than his cousin Kara. The teen beauty had long straight shoulder length raven black hair, which also had two or three long strands of bright canary yellow streaks just before each ear. The highlights framed her thin face.

Laura had big sky blue eyes, a smallish nose, and highly placed cheekbones that gave one the impression that she was of Eastern European descent. Her lips were thin and she'd put on a far too bright shade of red lipstick. Clark noted that she'd also overdone her black eye make up. It reminded him of a classic Goth style and had the effect of creating a mask across her eyes.

Laura was favoring her neck, rubbing it, perhaps due to the collision. She stretched leisurely and twisted her waist back and forth. Chloe noted the girl's uncomfortable silence. _Young Laura was_ _definitely hiding something_, based on Chloe's assessments of her body language.

"Laura, do you live around here?" Chloe decided to make small talk. The teen bent over, then arched her back. "Yeah, not too far away." She replied evasively. "Now you two, on the other hand, are not from around here, are you?" Laura skillfully deflected the questioning.

"Are we that obvious?" Clark attempted to be charming, but his heart just wasn't in it. "Well, I'm from Falcon Claw, a little farming town across the lake from here. Everyone knows everybody else, and you two would've stuck out like sore thumbs."

Laura grinned broadly, displaying a full set of lily white teeth. She'd put Chloe at ease for the moment, yet the jury was still out."That sounds like Smallville." Clark commented craftily. "Where?" Laura was truly puzzled.

_Good job, Clark_! Chloe silently praised. _That can possibly eliminate Laura from the meteor freak_ _persuasion_. "It's a small town in Kansas." He informed her. Laura nodded as she brushed the dust off of her bright yellow tee shirt.

"Kansas? That's a long way from here for a joyride." Laura said skeptically. She'd since noticed Chloe's small car partially hidden behind some foliage. "Like I said, we were exploring the caves." Chloe defended. Laura approached them cautiously.

Clark, for an instant, thought that she resembled a lioness stalking her prey. _Maybe I'm just_ _being overly paranoid_, Clark rationalized, _what with Brainiac and Lex Luthor still on the loose_. "Find anything interesting?" Laura feigned innocence.

"No, not really." Chloe lied. "Yeah, I don't understand the cave drawings myself." Laura had called Chloe's bluff. The hairs stood up on the back of Chloe's neck as Laura circled ever closer. Clark eyed her suspiciously, calculating a possible next move.

"Any idea what this yellow stuff is in the water?" Clark asked as Laura froze in her tracks. He simultaneously reached down into the creek streaming just below his feet and the yellow minerals washed over his hand and in between his fingers. It left an oily residue on his alien skin.

Laura momentarily looked horrified before she caught herself and returned to a disinterested poker face. "Nope." Laura lied. "It's probably just sulfur or some wonderful Nebraska clay." She deadpanned.

"I wouldn't drink it if I were you. It could be poisonous."To her dismay, Laura was becoming more adept at lying every day. Her gut told her that it was wrong to lie to Clark and Chloe, despite the fact that she'd just met them.

_An omission was_ _nearly_ _the same as a falsification_, her best friend Tim had said the other day. Clark wiped the mineral deposits on his jeans. He suddenly felt odd. _Oh no!_ Clark thought.

Before he could react, he sneezed, blowing down an old dried up ash tree roughly ten feet tall. Chloe put her head in her hands. "Bless you!" She mumbled as Laura continued to stare at Clark.

There was no covering up that event, He mused with disdain. Clark flashed his best innocent grin at her. "It must've been rotted." Laura defended, much to their surprise.

"So you two were exploring the caves in the middle of nowhere because…?" Laura pressed. Chloe thought that Laura was far too smart for her own good. "It's for a…" Clark was about to say 'a school project' like he'd done a number of times before. Chloe came to the rescue.

"An article that I'm working on for the paper." She smiled brightly. "I'm a journalist for the Metropolis _Daily Planet_." Laura's eyes widened. "Now, that I've heard of." She relaxed a bit. "A reporter, eh? That's way cool!"

Clark had decided that he was willing to trust Laura for the moment."Nothing interesting ever happens here in this backwater town." Laura continued. "Why would a major metropolitan newspaper be even remotely intrigued by these caves?"

Clark answered: "We have similar caves and writings near Smallville." He offered. Chloe's eyebrows rose. _Too much information_, Clark, she silently criticized. Laura purposely slipped in between Clark and Chloe, moving faster than an ordinary human.

By Clark's estimation, Laura was shorter than he, but taller than Chloe or Lana, roughly the same size as Lois Lane. She appeared to be bustier and a bit stockier than the _Planet_'s newest reporter as well.

Laura turned her back on the caves in an attempt to distract the visitors from her secret mineral stash. "I know this area pretty well." She began, gesturing towards the greenish brown valley before them. "That body of water is called Crater Lake."

"Word is that a small asteroid or piece of a comet hit here just after the last ice age, forming the crater. It likely pushed up these mounds of land and the runoff of the melting ice created this small stream, which we call Comet Creek, appropriately enough."

"It appears to be running from a source up in the foothills, into the caves, and through these ravines into the lake." Laura hesitantly took Clark's elbow and ushered him away from the cave entrance. Chloe trailed behind, filled with suspicions. _This was too much of a coincidence._

"You can see clear across the valley from here." Laura added. She shaded her eyes with one thin hand. "Yes, it's beautiful." Clark placated the teen, fully aware that she was probably trying to railroad him. _How did I become so jaded_? He wondered silently, though he would not be swayed.

"You come out here because…?" He probed. Laura hadn't expected him to keep digging. Suddenly she didn't mind being grilled by the tall handsome stranger. Chloe cleared her throat loudly, distracting them. Clark and Laura's eyes met briefly.

"I'm kind of a lone wolf." Laura confessed. "I enjoy the wide open spaces, and Nebraska has plenty of them." Clark accepted her at her word, though he couldn't help reviving the painful memory of the Kiwatchi girl, Caia, who actually was a wolf.

Laura reminded him a lot of her. Chloe wanted to move Clark along, yet she was also extremely curious about Laura. _That impact with Clark_ should have decimated the teenager. It didn't seem to faze her a bit.

Once a _paranoid journalist, always a paranoid journalist_, she rationalized. Suddenly Laura's cell phone rang, playing a recent _Lifehouse_ tune. Clark winced as the ringtone resembled his Senior Prom's theme song.

"Yeah Tim?" Laura answered. Clark slunk away to rejoin Chloe. "What do you think, Chlo'?" He questioned. "Something's just not right, Clark." The pretty blonde cub reporter replied. "She magically appears and happens to run into you, and there's not a scratch on her, I might add."

"There's also something that she's hiding about the caves. What if she's not a meteor freak?" Clark nodded. "She could be like Bart Allen, Mr. _Impulse_, acquiring that blinding speed by accident." Chloe frowned.

"Or she could be one of Lex's freak creations sent here to spy on you, to say nothing of being an agent of evil for Brainiac." Clark couldn't truly rule out any of those possibilities. "I hate to do this…" He x-rayed Laura from head to toe with his unique vision.

"She's not an android. I saw all required body parts." Clark stated morbidly. "I will say that her muscles seemed to be packed rather densely." Chloe scratched her head. "She's kind of scrawny to be a super freak." Clark sighed.

"I'll try one more thing." He turned his head away from them, pretending to admire the valley. He focused his superior hearing on Laura's phone conversation. He hated to eavesdrop. _Still, there could be safety concerns_, Clark justified his intrusion.

"Hello my mutant malcontent." A cheerful young male voice said from the other end of the conversation."I have news. I just couldn't wait until your return." Tim began. "Yeah because it would take me all of thirty seconds, if that, to trot back to Falcon Claw."

Laura said cockily. She seated herself on the fallen tree trunk that Clark's inappropriately timed sneeze had knocked down. Tim Servo was Laura's best friend and confidante. The boy genius was the only person she'd told about her unusual abilities.

He immediately accepted her, which was very important to the basically friendless super teen. "The lab tests are back." He stopped for a dramatic pause. "They confirmed my original hypothesis that the mineral that you so humbly named _Loracite_ (pronounced Laura – Site) is in fact a new element."

"It does not appear on any periodic table." Clark was listening with fascination. As Chloe patiently waited nearby, she aimlessly flipped the yellow rocks into the creek. "Really?" Laura risked a glance at Clark whom she thought was ignoring her.

"There's more, my sweet." Tim shamelessly flirted. "Are you sitting down?"

"Yes Tim-ster." Laura sighed. "Unfortunately, the Loracite has been reorganizing your DNA." Tim informed her, waiting for the shock to wear off. It didn't. Laura's big blue eyes widened as she quickly lowered her voice.

"You mean that I'm a permanent mutant? A freak?" "I'm afraid so, sweetie. However, freak is such a harsh word." Tim responded. "Great!" Laura kicked a small rock across the creek and it sailed for hundreds of yards, finally shattering to dust after it impacted a rocky outcropping near the end of the visible valley.

"At least we were prepared." Tim reasoned, trying to lessen the overall blow. Laura suddenly remembered that she wasn't alone. "Uh Tim, can we talk later? I've met some people out here." Tim paled. "Some people?" He echoed as Laura shifted the phone to her other ear.

"Two of them actually, they were prowling around the caves." She replied. "Crap!" Tim exclaimed. "Get rid of them!" Laura grimaced. "Chill, Tim!" Her friend was growing more anxious by the moment. "Can't you just kill them?"

Laura laughed. "Funny, Tim! Who do I look like, _Doctor Doom_?" Tim brushed back his tousled brown hair. "They could be Feds, Area 51 even, or members of a foreign terrorist dictatorship, perhaps the shadow government or worse yet the Environmental Protection Agency. Do they know about the Loracite?"

Laura grinned thinly. "Before you send the black helicopters out after me, let me finish." She took a long appraising look at Clark's physique. "I don't think they know anything. They were just out exploring." Tim scoffed.

"Likely story and my Uncle Steve dresses up like a prom queen and hits the town every Saturday night!" Laura glanced at the phone. "Ignoring that disturbing imagery, Tim, I'll see you later." Laura snickered.

"Be careful, and don't give them any reason to suspect you." He advised. _Too late for that_, Laura mused. "Fine, I'll move them along. Bye Tim." She clicked off the miniature flip phone.

Laura returned her full attention to Clark, forgetting that Chloe was nearby. "Sorry about that. I have to get going." Clark detected a genuine sadness in her voice. Naturally, he'd heard every word of her conversation, and now knew what all the mystery surrounding her was about.

Clark strangely wanted to tell Laura all about him, about the cave drawings, about Chloe, Lana, Lois, and everything, but he didn't dare. After all they'd just met. "Can we give you a ride somewhere?" He offered, startling Chloe.

_Clark_ _was being direct, since when_? She wondered._He was attempting to be trusting and aggressive? That didn't make any sense_, she considered the options. There appeared to be no harm in questioning Laura further.

"Um…yeah. I guess that would be okay." Laura reluctantly agreed as she felt her heart begin to race. _I just want to get them away from my Loracite_, she silently planned some informative, yet meaningless conversation for the ride back to Falcon Claw. _It's not as if they could injure or kidnap a_ _mutant like me_, Laura briefly wallowed in some self pity. _I hate wallowing_…

Chloe shook her head. She hated to leave a new mystery unsolved. Clark was also thinking along those lines. "Just a minute." Laura stalled. "I want to grab some of the yellow minerals for my friend's school science project." She lied and whipped out a good sized test tube.

Placing her backpack nearby, Laura vaulted up the incline landing softly on the dusty bank of the creek. "Nimble, isn't she?" Chloe asked as her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Clark, my _Spidey_-_sense_ is tingling…" She began.

"You should've gone before we left." Clark joked, cracking Chloe up. "Nice!" Chloe continued to chuckle. _When did you develop a personality_? She thought sourly. Laura meanwhile scooped up some raw Loracite rocks, and scraped some of the yellow mineral from the bottom of the shallow creek, placing both in the test tube.

With Laura out of earshot, Chloe pressed the point. "Well, what did you hear?" Clark gestured for her to wait. "We'll talk about that later. Suffice it to say, Laura's not a meteor freak. She's speedy, but basically harmless, though I wish we knew more about her."

As the gifted teen returned, Clark felt another sneeze coming on. This time he covered his mouth, softening the blast. _Ah Choo_!

"Bless you!" Laura and Chloe chorused. Clark thanked them and sniffled. As soon as Laura packed away the samples, he felt better. _An allergy_? Clark scowled.

Laura gathered her backpack and followed them to the car. Chloe accepted Clark's analysis for the moment. He held the door open for Laura and she smiled appreciatively. Chloe rolled her eyes.

_How does he do it? Only Clark_ _could find a turbo babe in the middle of nowhere_ _and she'll_ _probably end up falling for him_. She mentally grumbled.

"Sorry about the mini-car, but with gasoline over four dollars a gallon, my NASCAR days are over." Chloe quipped. Once inside, Laura examined Clark more closely from the cramped back seat. She decided to trust him.

_It made no sense_, she silently admitted, _but then what about all this_ _does? Maybe he's a freak of nature like me_? She silently debated telling him the truth as Chloe headed back towards the main road.

"How's that arm, Clark?" She asked warily. "It's still bruised and a little stiff." He replied. "Yeah, sorry about that." Laura apologized. "To be honest Clark, you should have been knocked out at the very least." She added, without giving it much thought.

"I felt like I ran into a brick wall." Laura was pushing it. Clark gulped. "I could say the same about you, Laura. That was a solid hit." He challenged. "Be thankful that you're still in one piece." She smirked.

_Perfect, I just wonder_…Laura was considering all types of options and scenarios. "Okay, I'm done ignoring the eight hundred pound gorilla in the car." Laura fished. "No offense, Kent." He turned to face her and was greeted with a brilliant smile. "None taken." Clark returned the toothy grin.

"You should be flat on your back pushing up daisies." Laura joked, though Clark didn't find that at all amusing. "How long have you had supernatural abilities?" She'd thrown down the gauntlet. "Who says that they're supernatural?" Clark countered.

Chloe was tempted to slam on the brakes and physically toss Laura out of the car. "Okay, if I'd hit Chloe by accident on my jog, you'd be going home alone today." Laura said. _Or maybe not_, she smiled lustily.

"Who says that Chloe doesn't have special abilities?" Clark verbally fenced with her. "Can we just change the subject?" Chloe pleaded. "No!" Clark and Laura chorused.

"Fine." She glanced at the open road ahead of her. "By the way Laura, where exactly am I supposed to be going?" Chloe questioned. "Oh sorry! Take Route 16 west to Randella Road and turn left." Laura was growing frustrated.

"I'll start." She volunteered."I was normal as far as I know, until my thirteenth birthday. All of a sudden I found that I could run faster, jump higher, and swim better than the other kids. All of that without breaking a sweat." Laura explained.

"I rarely ever got tired or sick. Now I'm about to turn eighteen. I have to graduate high school next semester and decide what to do with my life." She shared. "Now it's your turn." Laura prodded.

_Nice try, sister_, Chloe mused. "Wait a minute. We just met." She protested as Clark remained characteristically silent."Yeah and?" Laura countered. She had the persistence of Lois, Clark observed.

"Fine, I was born this way." Clark exaggerated. "Born what way?" Laura probed. Chloe sighed. "You might as well not bother with a secret identity, Clark." She criticized. "Just put up a billboard."

"I can run faster than nearly anyone on Earth." Clark stated, trying to cut his losses. After all, Laura hadn't really seen him use any of his abilities yet. "Really? I'll have to race you sometime." She flirted.

"That still doesn't explain how I hit you with full speed and all you have is a bruised forearm." Laura was way too observant for Chloe's taste.

"Fair enough." Clark added. "I can also withstand a lot of impacts." Chloe scowled, wondering why Clark was being so free and easy with stories of his abilities. "Oh, here's the turn off." Laura interrupted, pointing towards the upcoming intersection.

Chloe sped up and skidded slightly on the gravelly road, as she changed directions. She couldn't wait to drop Laura off. "Are you two heading back to Smallburg today?" Laura asked sarcastically. "Yes, we're heading to Smallville tonight." Clark replied coldly.

"Can I have your phone number?" Laura asked, shocking Clark with her directness. "Oh? Can I have yours?" Clark challenged. "Sure." Laura answered without hesitation. She'd called his bluff as well. Clark didn't need another problem.

On one hand Kara was more than enough for him to handle, on the other he wanted to keep Laura close until he found out what she was up to. Clark's goal was to keep both girls away from exploiters like Lex Luthor. He continued to wrestle with the mixed feelings.

"Okay." Clark finally said as Chloe stared daggers at him. "Clark, you're not serious!" "Shoot, Clark." Laura instructed. "I'll put you right in my cell phone directory." She had punched up her contacts list, which consisted of exactly three names. Miss popularity she was not.

Clark gave her his number and in fairness, she gave him hers.

"You know, Clark, why not just put an ad in the paper?" Chloe chastised him. "Would you rather that Laura and her abilities fall into the wrong hands, say Lex's?" He countered.

"Whoa! Wait a second! I'm no one's stooge!" Laura protested. "I'm my own person, I owe no one!" Clark was very glad to hear that. _Did she have the potential to join Oliver Queen's_ _band of misfits_? _Only time would tell_. "Do you work at all?" Chloe inquired.

"No, just on my Aunt Wanda's farm." Laura responded. "Do your parents know about your abilities?" Clark grilled. "My parents died when I was a little girl." Laura said with an edge to her voice. "I'm sorry, so did mine."

Clark was technically telling the truth."Does your Aunt Wanda know?" Chloe followed up. "Nope." Laura sighed. "I didn't want her to worry about me, or drag me to some quack doctor."

Chloe was satisfied with that answer. She began to relax her opinion of Laura. Maybe _Clark_'_s got a point_, she considered, _but he's too trusting and naive_. "Turn right at the next road." Laura directed. "It leads to an access way to my Aunt's farm." She felt an odd pain in her stomach.

_Would I ever see Clark or Chloe again? Was I just hungry_? Ever resourceful, Laura had already memorized Chloe's car model and license plate. She was confident that she could find her new friends. _After all, how many Clark Kents and Chloe Sullivans can there be in or around Smallville_?

_The real mystery was their interest in the cave drawings…and Clark's powers_. "Here we are." Laura forced herself to appear cheerful. "Did you guys want to come in for a while?" _Especially you, Clark_, she flirted silently. "Just don't rat me out to Aunt Wanda. Promise?"

She asked politely, and again Clark was hesitant. He finally talked himself into it. _It would be foolish to waste an opportunity to find out more about the gifted teenager_, he rationalized."Okay, it's a deal." Clark decided, speaking for Chloe. He guessed that the cub reporter's curiosity would get the best of her. She hadn't as of yet, voiced any objections.

Chloe pulled up alongside the modest bluish green ranch house at the center of the property. The farm was fairly large with a greenish brown and white barn complete with grain silo nearby. "What do you guys grow on the farm?" Clark asked her, making small talk.

He opened the car door for Laura, impressing her again. "We have corn, wheat, apples, cherries, and an assortment of common vegetables." Laura replied happily. "Any livestock?" He inquired, using his x-ray vision to confirm that they were alone.

For all he knew, this could've been another trap laden with kryptonite. He berated himself for being overly paranoid. Laura unexpectedly took Clark's hand, much to Chloe's annoyance, as they surveyed the property.

"Just a few cattle and a couple of horses", Laura answered. "We don't make enough income to support a larger spread. My Aunt Wanda is also a partner in a local hardware store." She beamed as she escorted Clark up the front porch and into the front door of the house.

Chloe trailed them, silently cursing the situation. It was obvious to her that Laura was already infatuated with Clark. She'd 'been there, done that' in the past and immediately recognized the signs. "Aunt Wanda?" Laura yelled, making Clark wince. "She's not home."

Clark had verified that, moments ago. "This is our house." Laura announced, gesturing towards the large den with bricked walls, a stone fireplace, thick pine paneling, and a comfortable looking couch at the room's center. Chloe immediately began searching for clues.

She started by investigating the photograph assortment atop the fireplace's mantle. "It's a simple t wo-bedroom, two bath." Laura explained. "It's enough for Aunt Wanda and I and it was quite affordable. In fact, the realtor seemed to be happy to be rid of it." She rambled.

_If Chloe wasn't here, I'd show you the upstairs_, Laura thought lustily. "Are these your parents?" Chloe had zeroed in on the centerpiece of the photo collection. It showed a young man and woman posing in front of an old general store. "Yes." Laura said shortly, refusing to get upset.

"Oh! The Lakes!" Chloe exclaimed. "I remember reading the original story in the _Daily_ _Planet _archives. Laura! They were murdered!" She added excitedly. "You are a good reporter, aren't you?" Laura asked icily. Chloe reddened. "I'm sorry! Sometimes I don't think before I get started."

"That's alright." Laura accepted her apology. Clark detected a note of depression in Laura's voice. "The case is listed as unsolved." Chloe informed them, mostly for Clark's benefit. "I don't remember all that much about them." Laura added wistfully.

"I don't know everything about my biological parents, either." Clark empathized. "Some of what I do know, I wish I didn't." He added sourly. Chloe wouldn't let the subject go. "No suspects were ever questioned." Laura affirmed Chloe's statement.

"True. Any evidence had been wiped clean by a series of twisters which hit the area that day." Laura recalled. "Don't worry. I'll find their killers, and bring them to justice. Mark my words, that day will come." The conviction in her voice sent chills up Chloe's spine.

Clark was taken aback by Laura's directness. "Killers?" He echoed, latching onto the phrase. "Yes. My good friend's father, Mr. Trent, had sworn under oath that there could've been two shooters at least, to the Falcon Claw Police Department. Of course, no one else saw anything."

Laura's voice took on a less menacing tone. "The Trents originally saved me and took me in, until they could contact my Aunt Wanda in Greensborough. She gave up her personal life to take care of me. That was just over twelve years ago." She explained further.

Clark was noticing a pattern here. Laura's story was akin to Lana Lang's, Oliver Queen's, and a number of the meteor freaks that Clark had defeated or dissuaded. He felt that he had to do something to prevent Laura from allying herself with the wrong people, like Lex or Lionel.

He didn't want her to follow in the other's tragic footsteps, namely, using her unique abilities for revenge or destruction. _Things tended to happen for a reason_, Clark mused. He could've been meant to encounter Laura now, while she was young, to prevent trouble in the future.

Chloe was about to interrogate Laura further, when Clark interrupted. "Ready to go, Chlo'?" He cut her off. "You must be starved by now, after all the exercise today." Chloe took the hint. _Translation: 'Back off of Laura'_. "Uh…yeah." She stammered. "Sounds good, Clark."

"Did you guys want to stay and order a pizza?" Laura offered sheepishly. "I have no culinary skills at all." _Just like Lois_, Clark thought with a bemused smile. _Clearly Laura didn't want to be_ _alone_. He wished that he could take the young girl back to Smallville with them.

That wasn't really an option, Clark thought with resignation. _Sooner or later, she'd find out_ _about Kara and I and our bizarre histories_. Then he'd have to explain everything to her. Laura had her own life to live. Yet, he could still invite her to visit. "Hello? Earth to Clark?" Laura joked.

Chloe decided to play the bad guy. It was obvious that Clark was waffling. "Thanks Laura, but we have to get going. I still have an article to write for the paper before tomorrow morning." Laura glanced down at her feet sadly.

"Thanks for the invite, though." Chloe added. Clark had made up his mind. "Hey Laura, why don't you come out to Smallville and visit sometime?" He asked and immediately the teenager's face brightened. Chloe simply shook her head. "Ooh, sounds like a rockin' good time." Laura quipped. "Thanks, I'll just do that." Laura steeled her resolve, went up to Clark and hugged him. Chloe rolled her eyes, and Laura hugged her just for show.

"It's been nice meeting you." She added, far too sweetly. "Good luck researching the caves. Let me know if you find anything interesting. I could always use the info for a term paper." Laura added as Chloe nodded. She sighed deeply as she led her visitors back to Chloe's car. Clark spotted a motorcycle parked beneath a tarp alongside the Lake's barn. "Is that your ride?" He gestured towards it. "Yup. That's my dad's _Harley Davidson **Gold Wing**_." Laura replied seriously.

"I don't have a license for it yet." Chloe's eyebrows rose. "You don't really need a car or motorcycle, do you?" Laura shrugged. "It's mostly for sentimental value, as is my dad's red Mustang. "I've got it covered and locked up inside the barn." Laura continued. "I have to try and keep up appearances." Laura admitted as Clark nodded. "I can relate to that!"

He recalled his early infatuation with his dad, Jonathan's motorcycle. "I also have a dirt bike and a ten speed." Laura added. "Good bye! See you soon?" she asked hopefully. Clark flashed his devastating smile. "You can count on it." Laura fought back a tear. _Why am I being such a wuss_? She wondered silently. _Maybe the Loracite is starting to wear off_? She waved as Clark and Chloe drove away. Maybe she had just fallen in love?

end chapter

Next Chapter


	6. Chapter 6: Gold Wing

Laura Lake : Gold Wing _Companion_

"What do you think of her, Chlo'?" Clark asked as they arrived back in Smallville. "She's got potential." She replied. "My problem with Laura is that she's young and probably immature."

"True." Clark reluctantly agreed. "I stand by what i've said. We need to keep her out of Lex's clutches or whoever else might try to usurp or coerce Laura into using her abilities the wrong way."

"Don't we have enough going on in our lives, Clark?" Chloe mildly protested, though deep down she knew he was right. "I've been thinking about that, Chlo'." Clark began. "Maybe it's time that I look at the bigger picture."

"Such as?" Chloe turned onto the gravelly access road which led to the Kent farmhouse. "Lex will never give up trying to perfect the meteor freaks of Level 33.1. Even if he did, i'm sure that he'd find another way to abuse and increase his power."

"Meaning?" Chloe pressed his point as she pulled up alongside the barn. "It's time that I let go..." Clark choked on his words. "Let go of Lana, and my failed attempts to lead a so-called normal life."

"Whoa! Clark, that's heavy!" Chloe commented as she got out of her car. He joined her, as they leaned on the corral fence to watch the horses gallop and the sun set. "More to follow, i'm sure..." Chloe quipped. (See _Beyond Smallville: Evolution_.)

Amazingly, Laura hadn't felt bad about letting Clark and Chloe go. That wore off soon, though, as the boredom of early summer set in. _There was only one thing to do, road trip_! She thought excitedly.

_What should I tell Aunt Wanda_? She brainstormed. _After I finish my chores, which will take me all of five minutes_, _I'll just tell her the truth_, she mentally joked.

_I could just see it, Aunt Wanda, I'm running off to Kansas_, _literally, to hook up with an older boy whom I just met, see you_ _later! Yeah, that will work_! She thought sarcastically.

_I know! I have to go on a field trip for a school project! _She decided_. Aces!_ Laura soon zipped off towards Smallville. She found the small agricultural town with little effort.

Before trying to track Chloe and Clark down she checked out Metropolis. _Man, this is_ _the biggest city I've ever seen_! She thought as she strolled through Metropolis Center Park.

Laura quickly skirted Metropolis Bay and wandered along the Mikosugee River, which led to rural Kansas and eventually emptied into the Mississippi.

After all those miles she still hadn't broken a sweat. This Loracite stuff has staying power, she observed. _Golden Hawk Casino_? Laura noted. _Too bad that you have to be eighteen to gamble_.

She zipped past the brightly decorated gambling house, taking a moment to watch an antique paddlewheel Mississippi Riverboat slowly churn up the water as it neared the old wooden wharf.

_Time to track down my guy_, Laura thought lustily. She sped back to Smallville, stopping at the only coffee house that she could find, The Talon. _Not exactly a happening place_, she thought wryly.

Two suspicious looking creeps were ascending the stairs at the rear of the establishment. Laura concentrated and used her unusual vision to check the men out. _Whoa! They're both packing_! She gasped. _I guess it's time to find out if I'm bulletproof_!

_Hmm! What if they're cops? No, something doesn't smell right about this, and I'm not thinking of the day old coffee grounds and stale Danishes located at the back of the Talon's kitchen_!

Laura continued to wrestle with her idea. Curiosity finally got the better of her. _Only one way to find out_! Laura zipped past the dark suited guys. They weren't very subtle. The suits stood out in the crowd of blue collar and farm workers that frequented the Talon.

Her blinding speed kept anyone from watching her. Laura seemed to appear out of nowhere. The lead goon had reached the top edge of the landing, his partner just a few stairs behind.

Laura quickly glanced at the names above the apartment's mail slot. _Chloe Sullivan and Lois Lane_, Bingo! She thought excitedly. Laura pounded on the door. "Girls? Girls? We have visitors!" No reply. Laura received no response. Apparently they were out.

She turned to face the first thug. "Can I help you gentlemen?" She asked far too sweetly. "Beat it kid!" The leader growled. "This don't concern you!" Laura blocked his path. "Are you policemen?" She inquired casually.

"Is that any of your business?" The second goon asked menacingly. "That doesn't answer my question." Laura's smile faded as she challenged them. "Let's see some identification, or a search warrant." She ordered.

The first creep then made a nearly fatal mistake. He shoved his weapon into Laura's stomach, hiding it from the remaining Talon patrons. "Here's my I D." He grumbled. "Now move it or lose it. I won't ask again."

_Game On_! She joked. Laura assumed an attack pose. _Okay_ _Tim, wherever you are, here's my first real test_. She thought sourly. Laura punched the lead gunman in the jaw with a devastating left cross.

The impact knocked him through the banister, off the landing, and onto the floor below, smashing an empty café table. _That's_ _what I get for watching too many violent Saturday morning cartoons_, she quipped silently.

Two customers quickly grabbed their cell phones and dialed 911, while others rapidly left the establishment, fearing any involvement. The thug's gun had gone off. Laura was hit square in the upper midriff above her ribcage.

She felt the bullet bounce off and fall to the ground. "Ow!" She said simply. Thankfully, the bullet hadn't penetrated her skin. Just knowing that she felt it was a relief and a concern at the same time.

_I'll worry about that later_, she mused. Laura kicked the second gunman in the chest, and he sailed all the way into the cash register area. He never hit a stair.

Both goons were seriously injured, mostly cuts, bruises, broken bones, and possibly concussions, yet they would live. Laura had successfully tested and measured her powers for the first time. They'd require some quality time at Smallville Medical though.

Sirens wailed in the distance. _Game over_! Laura smirked. _Just like a good old Western movie! Time to go_! Things had happened so fast, and with the super speed of her exit, Laura was confident that no one could positively identify her.

The turbo powered teen zipped past Smallville's finest as they came in to bust the goons. Laura continued on down the street at normal speed and since Smallville hadn't heard of the concept of an Internet Café, she had to track down Clark the old fashioned way.

_The area phone number book_, Laura grinned, _how quaint_. In moments, her super speed vision had picked out Clark's address. She took a moment to locate the map of the surrounding area.

Since being infected by the Loracite, her memory had been enhanced. With some concentration, Laura was able to commit nearly anything to instant recall. _It came in handy for all those tests in high school_, she mused.

"I'm on my way, sweetie." Laura muttered as she sped off towards the rural farmland areas, and out of sight. In seconds, she was slowing down approaching the Kent Farm. Laura's visual perception shift returned to normal, and the visible humidity evaporated back into the air.

Three cows were startled by Laura's arrival. They mooed incessantly and backed away from her. "Oh hush, you walking cheeseburgers." She taunted the cattle.

Laura casually strolled up the stairs to Clark's wraparound porch and knocked on the Kent's door. "Oh Clark?" Laura called out flirtatiously. She tried the screen door and then the inner wooden door. Both were open.

"You've got to love these provincial areas." She commented to herself. Laura headed into the kitchen, and forced her superior vision to scope out the house. _Hmm! No beau hunk or blonde sidekick_, she thought cynically.

_The barn_! Laura snapped her thin fingers. She zipped back outside and entered the brightly colored red barn with matching silo. A golden brown dog barked at her intrusion, baring his sparkling white canine teeth.

"Sssh! Sit!" The teen commanded the family pet. Shelby / Krypto reduced his aggressive posture and settled for smelling Laura from a distance. "Clark?" She called out and immediately ascended the stairs to his loft.

"Sweet!" Laura praised his décor, gathering some ideas for her own barn at home. "Laura?" Clark approached her from the shadows. "What're you doing here?"

Laura placed her hands on her shapely hips, feigning offense. "Nice to see you too, Kent!" She mocked. "Hello? You invited me, remember? Are you deaf, or do you have male selective hearing?" Laura playfully teased.

"I heard you." Clark defended. He was clearly in a bad mood. "I just wanted to be sure of who you were." Laura sidled in closer to him. "It hasn't been that long. What, three or four weeks? Paranoid much?" She asked sarcastically.

She edged nearer to him, making Clark uncomfortable. Laura took a moment to glance over the railing at Clark's red pickup, which had been partially covered by a large beige canvas. (See _Beyond Smallville: Evolution_)

"I take it you're hiding out up here?" Laura grilled. She was far too swift for her own good, Clark observed. "What makes you say that?" He baited her.

"Oh possibly these two goons that I ran into near Chloe's apartment in town. Don't worry, I decked them both and now their faces are wiping the Talon's floor. The cops were on the way when I bolted." Laura said proudly.

"Whoa! You laid out two thugs?" Clark was skeptical. "Sure, I'm the _super girl_, remember?" Laura quipped. Clark rolled his eyes. _We already have one of those around here somewhere_, he thought sourly.

Laura came there seeking answers, and likely searching for truths about her future. "What are you and your sidekick into, Clark? Drugs? Gambling? Stolen freshly baked apple pies?" Laura asked facetiously.

"You have way too much imagination, Laura." He defended, "Really? Well I didn't imagine this." Laura pulled up the front of her shirt baring her bruised midriff.

Clark reddened and tried not to stare. Laura had about a three inch black and red discoloration just above her ribcage. She'd also inadvertently revealed the lower part of her white lace bra. Clark shifted uneasily.

"Those men were carrying some serious hardware." Laura remarked._The Feds from this afternoon maybe, or Lex's hitmen_, Clark surmised. "What did they look like?" He inquired.

"Just your typical suited goons, built like brick outhouses, short cropped black hair, and a nasty temperament." Laura joked. _That sounds like our friends from the sedan all right_. He concluded.

"Wait a minute!" Clark had realized something. "They gave you that bruise?" "That's right." Laura boasted. "I deflected a bullet with my abs of steel." She grinned broadly.

"They shot you point blank?" Clark asked incredulously. "Yeah, well one did. The other one took flight courtesy of my new _Sketchers_." Laura lifted one foot, showing off her running shoe.

Clark noted her long tan legs, which led up to a common pair of blue jean shorts. "You're bulletproof?" He asked, amazed. "Apparently." Laura smirked as she moved within an arm's length of Clark. "I don't know if I'll always be so." She added honestly.

_Seventeen_? Clark shook his head. _Laura was a teenager with awesome power_, he observed. He'd already assessed that she resembled a cross between Lana and Lois, yet she was younger and more reckless. Laura was in definite need of guidance.

She had that much in common with his youthful cousin, Kara. Clark wondered whether Laura was a gift or a curse. She wasn't a meteor freak as far as they knew. _Perhaps Laura was similar to Impulse, AC, or some new type of genetic mutation_.

Clark sighed. Either way, Laura couldn't be allowed to fall under the wrong influences. _How to proceed_? Clark wondered. _I can't just keep her here on the farm like I can with Kara. I guess I_ _need more information_.

"Laura, what brings you to Central Kansas?" He asked. "You do. "Clark couldn't have predicted that response. "It sure wasn't the rockin' good Smallville nightlife." Laura joked.

"I was bored, I wanted to go sightseeing…and I wanted to see you again." Laura gulped as she flirted. Clark blushed. _Now what do I do_? He wondered silently.

Clark was around four years her senior, not that he was looking for another romantic entanglement after the debacle with Lana. Laura was simply a headstrong turbocharged teenager.

"Does your Aunt Wanda know that you're here?" He interrogated. "Of course not." Laura snorted. "Did you always tell your parents where you were going, what you were doing and whom you were doing it with?" She challenged.

"No." Clark responded. He had to admit she had a point. Laura plopped herself comfortably onto his couch. She brushed her long straight hair behind her ears and folded her arms. Clearly she wasn't going anywhere in a hurry.

Previous Chapter


	7. Chapter 7: Companion

Laura Lake: Gold Wing

_Companion_

Laura was basically human, based on Clark's reading of her vital signs. Her heartbeat checked out, and he'd quickly x-rayed his young friend, finding no unusual physiology. The one anomaly that he'd located was a brightly colored element within her bloodstream.

He was thankful that it wasn't Kryptonite. He had to still question her as to how she'd acquired these extraordinary abilities. Clark recalled that Emily Dinsmore's clone had been able to move faster than the human eye could see. He seriously hoped that Laura wasn't another Luthorcorp experiment gone wild. "Okay Clark, your turn. Let's hear it, super boy. How can you possess these unusual powers?"

Laura continued to goad him. "Let's see what you got." Clark hesitated as she got up off the couch and walked over to him, with her hands on her hips. "I don't know, Laura. What if somebody sees me?" He mildly protested, remembering that Lois was on her way over.

"Clark, we're on a farm in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. Who's watching? A herd of cows?" Laura urged. "Alright." Clark looked around nervously, and listened for any approaching vehicles. "Let's go behind the barn." Laura smirked, seizing on that line. "Ooh! Taking me behind the barn, are you?"

She shamelessly flirted. "I don't know you that well, yet." Laura joked as Clark reddened. They took turns leaping out of the barn loft window, landing below near the corral. Laura stood by expectantly. "Let's start with something easy. How fast can you run?"

Clark ran around in a circle, spinning and spinning until he turned into a red and blue blur. Laura lost track of him, choosing instead to follow the ground level dust and debris whirlwind he'd created. Her hair was blown completely to one side, as she withstood the tornado like blast of wind.

He finally slowed down, stopping directly in front of her. "Sweet!" Laura exclaimed. "I'm impressed. You're not even sweaty or tired?" Clark shook his head. "I take it you have plenty of stamina, lucky me!" She heavily flirted. "Nice!" Clark said, looking embarrassed.

Laura rubbed her thin chin. "Okay, try this!" She readied herself, and charged at Clark, catching him by surprise. She literally ran up Clark's leg, waist, and chest before back flipping upward, and landing softly in a gymnastic style somersault. Clark's eyes widened. She was certainly talented...

Clark considered the possibility that Laura could help them in their cause. She was a bit young for hanging out with Oliver, AC, and Dinah, but she was roughly Kara's age or Bart's. "Now here's something entirely different." Laura boasted. She gauged her route, and accelerated.

Laura ran directly at the barn, then at the last second, she leaped straight up, landing sloppily on the barn's lower sloped roof, high above the corral. "Wow!" Clark's eyes widened. "Be careful up there." He warned. "It's not as if I can get hurt, Clark!" She replied overconfidently.

Clark's lip curled in a playful sneer. "No, but if you wreck the barn roof, I have to replace it." He dead panned. Laura laughed. "Watch and learn, my young apprentice." she teased, lowering her voice. "I must become one with the air around me." She continued to ham it up.

Laura spun in place slowly. She then ran toward the barn silo, vaulting over it, and launched herself into the air like a high diver, spreading her arms wide, and somersaulting downward. Laura appeared to defy gravity briefly, as she corkscrewed in midair, flipping back to the vertical.

She landed gracefully beside Clark, barely scattering the pebbles and dust of the barnyard. It wasn't necessarily the height of Laura's jump, only three to five stories, but her style, that Clark appreciated. "Nice control!" Clark praised, delighting the gifted teen.

"You got me. I can't even do that." He said humbly as Laura smiled. "Yeah, well that's two years of gymnastics, three years of martial arts training, and two years of classical ballet, courtesy of my Aunt Wanda. No, you may not tell anyone that secret. About the ballet, I mean, it would trash my rep!"

Clark was truly curious. "Your Aunt Wanda?" He prodded. Laura looked down as she related the story about her parents' murders. "They never did find the gunmen. The tornado wiped any evidence clean." She concluded. Clark felt for her. At least he hadn't caused her tragedy, unlike Lana's story.

"I never knew my biological parents...just learned bits and pieces." Clark opened up to her. "The Kents adopted me while I was still in diapers." Laura was saddened. "Oh Clark, I'm sorry." She wanted to hug him, but resisted. "Don't be." Clark added sourly. "The Kents were more like a real family than any biological parents could ever be." Laura decided to change the depressing subject.

She didn't want to dwell on the past anyway, for the first time, Laura could see a pleasant future for herself, though she admittedly fantasized that Clark would be a major part of it. "Can you fight, Clark?" She asked him point blank. "I don't like to fight, Laura." He answered honestly.

It was a nice change of pace for Clark, instead of always being on guard about his secret. He was warming up to the cocky teen. He briefly considered a possible romance with her, given the state of his relationship with Lana, or lack thereof. She was just too young, too reckless...he thought silently.

"No one likes to fight, Clark. At least most people don't." Laura rationalized. "You should know how to defend yourself, though. I mean, what if you lose your powers?" Clark nodded warily, recalling all of the times that he had, in fact, lost his abilities. Laura made a good point.

"Its not as if anyone can hurt me, physically, at least." Clark contended. Laura would not be swayed. "Even if your powers were substantially reduced, you should know some basic defense techniques." Clark rolled his eyes at her. "Humor me." She insisted, playfully.

"Clark, our powers are what make us unique. We should embrace them, and use them for the greater good. We can do things that no one else can. I've accepted that." Laura lectured. "If it all goes away, we should still be able to help, in any situation. One was is to focus."

Laura closed her eyes and began to stalk Clark like a hungry lioness. She struck what Clark assumed was a martial arts pose. Her legs were slightly spread apart as she walked slowly sideways, encircling Clark, and moving in closer to him with every revolution.

Laura placed her hands in front of her face and stomach, rotating them slightly. She focused her gaze on Clark's chest. "Watch and learn, Grasshopper!" She taunted. In a flurry of motion, Laura unleashed three kicks. One of which, nearly took Clark's head off! He barely avoided contact by quickly leaning back. "Laura, you're going to get hurt!" Clark yelled, when he regained his composure.

The adventurous teen stepped back into her original stance, smirking darkly. "I seriously doubt that, Clark. My martial arts classes, taught by a Kung Fu Master, Tsu Jin, prepares us for any attack or eventuality. "You never seriously injured someone?" Superman was skeptical. "Not until today, Clark, when I pounded on those two goons at Chloe's. Master Tsu Jin teaches control. Observe."

Laura altered her attack position to defend mode. Clark mirrored her stance. "Be careful, Laura." He reminded her. "Okay Clark, now lunge at me." She directed. "No. You're gonna get hurt." Clark froze in place, as Laura shifted her weight. "You're not afraid of a girl, are you Clarkie?" She challenged.

She moved in a step closer to him, gauging her move. "Laura, I'm going to end up taking you to Smallville Medical." He protested. "Grr!" Laura snarled as she charged him, and surprised Clark with a devastating roundhouse kick. He was too slow to block the attack! The teen's foot impacted him right in the face! The force of the blow knocked Clark a good thirty feet backwards into the side of the barn.

Clark shattered the middle four boards and as splinters flew everywhere, he slid to the ground. There was a gaping hole in the wall behind him. Laura put her hand over her mouth. "Oops! Sh**!" She exclaimed, rushing over to his prone form. "Clark! Are you all right?" she asked worriedly.

He mumbled something unintelligible. Laura bent down over Clark. "Oh my gawd!" Laura gasped. Superman was bleeding from the nose and mouth! The blood dripped down his chin, and his eyes were glassy and half shut. Laura tore off her pink sweatshirt, leaving only a black spaghetti strap camisole top. She pressed the sweatshirt against his nose, in an attempt to stop the flow of blood.

"Hold still." She ordered. "You're supposed to block my kick with your arm, not your face." Laura attempted to lighten the mood. "C'mon honey! Snap out of it!" She softly slapped Clark's cheeks. She straddled him, keeping constant pressure on his nose. "Huh?" He pointed upwards.

"Whatever, Clark! You're delirious."Laura's strength had quickly stopped the bleeding, but his nose was swelling up. "Keep applying pressure! Dude, I'm going in to get some ice!" She explained.

A maroon four door car pulled up in the driveway. "Lo lis" Clark mumbled, as his best friend and fellow journalist hurried towards the barn. "Clark? What the hell were you doing? You're a mess!" Lois yelled frantically, just as Laura returned with a pack of ice from the freezer. "Who the...?"

Laura ignored Lois and placed the ice compress on Clark's nose and upper lip. "Ow!" He yelped, amazed that he could still feel the pain from the impact. "Okay what the hell were you two doing, and who are you again?" Laura steadied the ice pack before turning toward Lois.

"Laura, Laura Lake." She said happily. Not the best way to make a new friend, she thought sourly. "Did she do this?" Lois pointed. "Yeth!" Clark answered as he reddened. "You want me to call the cops?" She offered. "No." Clark removed the compress. He was starting to feel a bit better.

Lucky for him, that it was a nice sunshine filled day. It helped him heal quickly. Laura gaped at Clark's fast recovery. "The horseplay just got out of hand, Lois." He defended Laura. "Horseplay? It looks more like a herd of cattle stampeded over your face." She taunted.

"What have you got to say for yourself, missy?" Lois waved her index finger at Laura. "I'm sorry. Like he said, the horseplay got out of control. I didn't mean to beat up on your boyfriend." She threw in the dig. "He's not my boyfriend." Lois corrected. Laura's face lit up.

"Do you want me to leave?" Laura asked, giving him the puppy eyes. "No. You're going to help me fix the barn." Clark joked, now that the bleeding had stopped and the swelling was going down. Lois snorted, and stomped into the house. "That was way embarrassing." Laura commented.

"Tell me about it." Clark agreed as he rubbed his jaw. He hated to admit it, but that was one of the most interesting things that had happened in recent memory. It was good to know how much power the troublesome teen had. "That's quite a roundhouse kick you've got there." He praised.

"If Lois isn't your girlfriend, then what's she doing here?" The teen grilled as she helped Clark to his feet. "Lois lives with me, hopefully on a temporary basis." He replied, mussing up her hair. "If it's any of your business." Laura forced a smile. "If I'd known how fragile you are..." She teased.

"Fragile?" Clark echoed, pretending to be offended. "Yes. Like a delicate little flower." She continued to playfully berate him. Laura took off running, and Clark caught up to her before she could go hyper speed in front of Lois, and tickled her good-naturedly in the ribs with both hands.

She fell over, giggling. Lois watched them fool around from the kitchen window, sniffing in disgust. It took her a moment to remember that Clark was only twenty one or so. He still acted like a school kid on occasion. It was one thing that endeared him to her, though she'd never admit it.

_Or would she_?

Lois grabbed a cold water from the refrigerator, and tiredly went back to her laptop. I know I suggested that Clark work at the Daily Planet, but maybe I'd be better off leaving him down on the farm, she thought with disgust. He and his new toy can play all day, she snorted. She sighed.

Listen to yourself, Lois, she stopped setting up the computer to think. You sound like a stupid jealous girlfriend. She shook her head. If he wants to play slap and tickle with a youngster, that's not my problem.

Lois began typing her latest article, titled "The Local Drug War", and soon Clark was out of her thoughts. The Mowhala Drug Cartel had been making inroads within all major U. S. Cities, Metropolis was no exception...Lois wrote as a quick flurry of hammering and sawing distracted her.

What the hell are the kids doing now? She got up and glanced out the window, watching Laura and Clark paint the barn wall. They'd repaired the damage in minutes flat. She eyed them suspiciously.

Laura and Clark bumped fists as they admired their handiwork.

"So what's the real story with you and Lois?" Laura pressed. The scrappy seventeen year old wasn't ready to give up on Clark just yet. "There's no story, Laura. Lois and I are good friends, that's all. She lives with me, and soon I'll be working with her." Aha! An opening! Laura thought lustily.

Laura thought about the best angle to move in on Clark, yet, instead she just continued to talk. "I have a best friend like that, too. Tim Servo. He's a guy at my school. The boy's a genius, no doubt. He's also like, a total geek. It's not a bad thing, mind you. In fact, he's proud of his immense geekiness!"

"He sounds great." Clark smiled. "What school is that, again?" Laura started rambling on, as a typical teenage girl would do. "Falcon Claw High School. I'm a senior. I'll graduate in May." Laura's eyes sparkled. "In August, I'll turn eighteen. You know what that means." She flirted.

"What?" Clark honestly didn't get it. "Duh! Kent! I'll be street legal." Laura smiled brightly.

"You mean with your dad's Mustang, and his Harley Davidson **Gold Wing**?" Clark missed the point. Laura sighed, and placed her hands on her shapely hips. "You are impossible, Clark." She said.


End file.
